The Wind's Shadow
by birdie83earth
Summary: Suna has a dangerous past & it's up to a few Konoha ninja & the Sand Sibs to uncover it quickly or it could lead to Suna's mass destruction. But what happens when feelings are explored in an atmosphere of impending doom? An adventure no one will forget.
1. The Detestable Mission

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story and the idea.

* * *

**The detestable mission**

Tenten was a fierce Kunoichi. Anyone who saw her qualifications could see that. She was a master of weapons and could hit a target dead center a hundred times in a row, much to the pride of team Guy. Constantly, she strove for improvement. She considered herself deadly and with good reason.

She was also a respectable shinobi. Not completely modest but not filled with too much pride either. She did as was asked and required of her; even if it meant doing something she considered blasphemy to her image.

Tenten constantly strove to show that female shinobi were just as powerful–if not more so–than males, so she would never turned her back on a mission, especially one assigned by Tsunade–sama. However, right now, inside a high-class restaurant wearing a tight, white and gold trimmed, floor length, golden dragon with red eyes _glowing_ embroidered Chinese dress…she wished she had argued more with Tsunade.

She had been working in this restaurant for two days, but since Tenten had no skill in dressing up of her own, aside from her training garb, Tsunade had suggested–more like insisted–that she meet up with Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura for help a week prior, as she thought that someone near her own age group would be more beneficial in the long run for the weapon's mistress.

'Help' was definitely not that first word that came to her mind when defining Ino and Sakura's strategies. Torture was a better suited word. But even Tenten had to admit–no matter how grudgingly–that Ino and Sakura's brainwashing techniques were good skills to possess on an undercover mission like hers.

By 'brainwashing' Tenten was referring to a word she never let spill from her lips–unless directed at fan girls–and much less acted upon its meaning. _Flirting_ was a skill Tenten always valued as crass and unsuitable for a young, strong, female Kunoichi. But dealing with a target of this caliber that seemed to have a lot of experience in the dating department under his belt, Tenten had no choice but to employ such a distasteful act. Of course this required training, for Tenten had not been gifted with being able to utilize subtleness or gracefulness of tongue on point.

She was walking towards the podium, ready to greet any and all guests that came in when she spotted her target. She took it slow, not wanting to look like a complete idiot if she tripped in her three inch heels but she tried to walk faster to make it seem like it was almost effortless to glide across the wooden floor. Tenten inspected her target inconspicuously. _Yep, definitely him_, she thought as she reached from behind a podium to grab a menu, _and he's alone_. Holding the menu to her chest, she pressed the eye of the dragon that traveled over her front.

Tenten, miraculously, caught herself from tripping for the second time that night without attracting _too_ much attention. Bitterly, she wondered how those three other girls working were able to move fluently in these heels. The menu in her hands rested on her lap, revealing the scarlet eye of the dragon.

"Hello sir. Table for one or do you have reservations?" Her fake smile hurt her jaw muscles but she dared not twitch.

The target, Yukio Matsumoto, sized her up and seemed to enjoy what he saw since a lecherous smile painted his face. Tenten held down the bile and smiled. Smiling, Sakura and Ino had said, was a good thing to do when you have no idea what else _to do_. So Tenten had been relying on such wisdom and for the past two days and so far it seemed to be working.

"Table for two, beautiful," he corrected. "I have a date but she's a bit late."

Tenten nodded, slightly uncomfortable with the word 'beautiful' being directed at her.

"Of course, handsome. Follow me please."

She walked carefully in front of her target. Calling her target handsome had not been a spur of the moment thing no matter how easy it sounded from her lips. Ino had been drilling it into her to call him handsome so that he would be more comfortable and be liable to make a mistake.

She motioned for him to sit down in one of the booths in the back and began reciting her line.

"My name is Haru and I'll be your waitress. We are a bit shorthanded tonight so please forgive us. I'll give you some time to find what you want."

"I think I already found it," Matsumoto said with a smirk while eying Tenten's figure appreciatively.

_He could be considered handsome to many women_, Tenten pondered, _but that smirk is a total turn off._

From the corner of her eye she noticed one of the other waitresses signal towards the door. She glanced quickly to identify the number of people that were waiting to get in and blanched when she saw the faces of team 8. Smiling politely at Matsumoto she turned and suddenly stopped. The first thought that came to her head was not: _I cannot believe this guy has the nerve to touch me_. Her first thought was, _my shuriken!_

She turned around and with a swift and hard slap to the man's hand she hissed, "That is not on the menu buddy!" and she quickly walked away.

On any other day she would have killed this man–or at the very least beaten him to a pulp–for invading her space but she couldn't. The mission was more important than her feelings. For the _pay_ she was getting for this mission she had to do a good job. The pay was enough to buy the new set of whetting stones she so desperately needed.

The one that was paying her was a wealthy landowner from one of the border towns of Konoha. The Hokage had classified this–as a way to pacify the unconfident and insistent woman with a large wallet–as an A rank mission, though normally this would be classified as a D or C rank mission for Genin. Tenten was the only one on team Guy that was not on a mission and was, unfortunately for her, the first profile that the woman saw.

Tenten was a confident person, but was slightly insecure at the requirements of this mission. To help her, she had taped down a shuriken high up on her inner thigh so that not even the splits in the Chinese dress would reveal it. It helped tremendously knowing that there was something familiar near her body. But it was a known fact that on undercover missions one must not carry a weapon, because if your enemy was to put you under suspicion of a charlatan then you'd have a better chance at convincing them you weren't one if you were _not_ concealing a weapon. Then you could get all the information you needed.

She tried to be without it, telling herself that she wasn't so weak as to need a support line. But after the first 5 hours of the first day she had asked for a break, ran home, strapped on the shuriken, and heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Now she was worried that she might have done something wrong. Quickly a plan formed in her head. If she was ever going to walk away from his table again she would take two _big_ steps backwards, excuse herself, and leave as quickly as the heels would allow her to. She had to keep her distance from the pervert, less he discover that she was a ninja.

Grabbing five menus she turned to team 8 with her first real smile in two days. "Hello, welcome to _Ryugu_ (1). My name is Haru and I'll be your waitress this evening. Follow me please."

As they were walking towards an unoccupied booth Tenten secretly wished that they would all just disappear. If anyone, besides Sakura and Ino, found out what Tenten had been forced to do and wear, even if it was for the sake of the mission, she knew that others would give her a hard time.

She felt she was pretty safe though.

She had threatened both Sakura and Ino and, even if they didn't really know her well, they could tell that she was one to make good on a threat. Hinata was almost like Neji in the way she respected others and would never spill anything to cause trouble.

Shino…well Tenten didn't really worry about him. He was always quiet, though she did wonder if allowing a shinobi who permitted bugs to reside within him would be a health violation. Kurenai and Kiba were the ones she was worried about. She didn't really know them that well and didn't know if she could trust them or not.

One look at Kiba and she just knew she couldn't trust him. He looked like the kind of guy that liked to brag. Even though he was dressed formally in a black suit that sort of hugged his body and distracted her a bit, she still knew that he couldn't be trusted.

All of team 8 was dressed formally; being as they were in a formal restaurant she was hardly surprised. Shino, to her surprise, was actually the least formal. He was wearing a black coat that covered his mouth with its high collar, long pants, and black ninja sandals. She wondered why he would wear dark tinted glasses in a low lit restaurant but why ponder on that fact, she had more important things to worry about anyways.

Hinata and Kurenai were wearing long dresses, of course in different styles. Hinata's was more conservative with long sleeves while Kurenai's was a bit more revealing in the chest and leg area. Even Tenten's dress wasn't that revealing, it was just a lot of leg, arms and mid thigh exposed was all, but it was enough to make her feel like she was baring her body to the world.

As soon as Tenten spouted her overused line, Hinata, Shino, and Kurenai knew that she was undercover and should act as if she was a stranger. But Kiba…Kami, help that boy.

"Whoa…" Kiba drawled in a dazed voice as he stared unabashed at Tenten's form. He knew it was Tenten, but he didn't know it was _Tenten_.

Because of all that training she put herself through she had gained a great physical physique but–without her wrappings–she was well endowed. It's not like she couldn't use the wrappings on this mission. Tenten had already decided a week prior–after seeing what kind of dress she was required to wear–that she would wrap herself twice before slipping into the monstrosity. But when she let down her guard she had been overpowered by Ino's _Shintenshin no Jutsu (2)_ when she least expected it.

Ino delivered her to the restaurant while she was still in Tenten's body and dismissed the jutsu after she got Tenten dressed. When Tenten saw that her wrappings were gone underneath the Chinese dress she felt like murdering Ino. But because the manager had already seen her without the wrappings, she couldn't show up with wrappings the next day. People tended to wonder why or how someone could go from a C to an A overnight.

Kurenai slapped the back of Kiba's head sharply, slightly annoyed at the obvious lack of tact in her student.

"Eyes up Kiba," she scolded. "Remember why we're here."

He didn't even blush. All he did was shake his head slightly to break him out of his daze. Kiba's lips uplifted into a smile that reminded Tenten of a dog.

"Right," he said and nudged Hinata in the ribs before setting his sights back on Tenten.

Kurenai pushed Kiba into the booth, seeing as he wouldn't move from his spot as he continued to stare at Tenten. She sat next to Kiba, just in case he tried anything he would have to get through her. Shino slid into the booth, followed by Hinata who Shino knew wanted to sit in front of Kurenai. They were close. The genjutsu user was like a surrogate mother for the young Hyuga heiress.

Tenten passed out the menus and glanced towards the door. She saw a young woman being escorted by one of the other waitresses towards the back of the restaurant where her target sat.

"Is today a special day for you guys?" Tenten asked in order to distract herself from the urge of murdering Kiba and his roaming eyes, and to keep occupied while waiting for the woman to be seated with Matsumoto.

Kurenai nodded. "Yes it is. We're celebrating Hinata's first success at an S-rank mission," she answered proudly as she gestured to the white eyed girl. Almost like a real mother would. Tenten felt something stir inside her she hadn't felt for years. It was a nostalgic feeling, but also filled with pain.

Tenten turned to Hinata, truthfully happy for Neji's younger cousin. "Well, if you don't mind me saying, congratulations Hinata–san!" Watching her face turn pink at all the attention was amusing for Tenten.

The Hyuga fiddled with her fingers and looked down at the table. "Th-thank you, Te–H-Haru–san."

The young woman was seated in front of Matsumoto.

"I'll be back when you decide to order." Quickly, she hurried so she'd be able to record some conversation. Tenten's hand went to her hip as she snapped photos of the woman's face. The button for the camera was in the form of a golden scale that she could inconspicuously click.

"Sorry I'm late. Forgive me?" the woman said in a nasally tone that actually physically hurt the weapons master's sensitive ears. Tenten shook it off. _Focus_.

"Of course," said Matsumoto in almost a breathy tone. "You'll just have to make it up to me later." He smiled the same twisted smirk he once directed towards Tenten.

The woman giggled. "I missed you, you know. You never come by anymore," she whined in an even nastier tone than before, if that was even possible.

As men do when they don't want to answer something directly, he sidestepped the hidden commitment she was hoping to convey with those words. "I'm here now, sweetlips."

_What a pity_, Tenten thought. _She doesn't even know she's being used_.

Standing two feet from the table–just incase the guy would try anything–Tenten grabbed a notebook from a small pocket on her hip and a pencil from one of her buns and asked, "Are you ready to order?"

At the end of the night, Tenten could swear that her jaw muscles were swollen from all the fake smiles and a couple of real ones when she chatted with team 8. After writing her mission report and taking out the small camera, recorder and microphone from the stupid, inane dress she felt the insane urge to burn it. The dress was provided by the manager and he said that she could keep it, "you look great in it," he had told her. With a look of incredulity she had asked him if he had a death wish. He replied he did not and told her to leave since she had no more business here.

There was already a fire burning in the fireplace, and with unadulterated glee she threw the dress inside. The smell of burning cloth surrounded her but she didn't mind. If the shoes were hers she would have thrown them in fire as well, but they were Sakura's. And even Tenten, someone who enjoyed fighting to its fullest, did not want to be at the brunt of Sakura's fist. That girl had freaky strength.

Though vaguely she wondered what it would be like to fight the medical nin. It was a proposition that Tenten looked forward to asking Sakura one day.

As soon as all the fabric had decimated she doused the fire, knowing that she wouldn't need to rekindle it later. She had been hoping to ask Tsunade–sama for a new mission, one that would take a couple of days. Tenten wouldn't admit it but she was lonely. Outside of her team and occasional mix–and–match mission pairups she never really made an effort to make friends.

Picking up her mission report, she tucked it under her arm and slipped into her sandals, finally glad to be wearing something sensible. When her feet touched the floor she winced. The blisters that she had the night before and spent the entire night soaking in a bucket of water at the foot of her bed were still hurting, but she sucked it up, thinking about them as a reason for never taking another undercover mission like that one again. Before she stepped out of the open door she looked back and yelled, "Bye."

Nobody but the house captured the parting sound. In the slant of light from the open door, two photographs on the opposite wall glinted for one shining moment before fading into darkness.

* * *

Deep in thought, Tsunade rested her elbows on the table while her fingers intermingled with her golden locks. There was a letter on her desk, just recently decoded, that had come from Suna. She bit her thumbnail, an action she got into the habit of doing when she was anxious or thinking hard. Two brisk knocks on the door reminded her to become more focused. She was the Hokage for crying out loud. If anyone, other than Shizune of course, saw her as weak for letting something like this get to her, she'd have to kill that person. But she still couldn't shake off the feeling of anxiousness.

"Come in," she announced. Tsunade already knew who it was based on their chakra signatures. Each shinobi in the village had a different one and she had most memorized by heart. "Yes, Tenten?"

A manila folder was presented to her. She reached to grab it, red painted nails gleaming from the lights above.

"My mission report Tsunade–sama."

Tsunade sank back in her blue Hokage chair, which was actually extremely comfortable and was one of the few, very few, perks of being Hokage. Being the leader of a shinobi village meant that you had to sit for hours at a time reading paperwork, handing out paperwork, writing paperwork, getting cricks in your neck because of the paperwork. She let out a private smile, wondering how a certain blond haired, blue eye Genin was ever going to handle sitting still.

As she looked through the mission report briefly, she noticed a word used in Tenten's summary. _Escort_. A frown wrinkled the spot between her golden eyebrows and she let out a sigh.

"Umm…" Tenten cocked her head to the side. "Is there something the matter with the mission report?"

The Hokage shook her head and stopped, feeling a headache come on. "What do people take ninjas for anyways? I have another request for undercover work. And it's from someone in the Land of Birds."

Both of them groaned at the same time.

"Tsunade–sama, I wish to be assigned to anything but spying on someone's two-timing boyfriend. That's like something a Genin would do to work on information gathering. Not a Chunin."

A vein appeared on the head of the Sannin. _When did these kids get so demanding_? she thought with bitterness. _Can't they learn to respect their elders_? _Of course, Tenten brings up a good point. Those missions are more Genin level. So what should I saddle her with for revenge for being so damn demanding? _Tsunade's amber eyes glinted with a hint of mischievousness as she glanced to the right of the red-walled room.

When a sneeze interrupted the silence Tenten about jumped out of her skin. _Was there somebody here? I didn't sense them_. She turned around sharply and had to do a double take as she took in the source of the sneeze.

Tsunade smiled and pointed to the young looking girl in the corner. "That is your new mission."

* * *

**A/N:**

_Ryugu – _Dragon Palace

_Shintenshin no jutsu_ – Mind Body Switch Technique

**Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. This was an idea that's been in my head for a while and I had to get it down.**

**Criticism is extremely welcome. **

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	2. A New Team Formed

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, just this story.

* * *

**A new team formed**

Currently in the Hokage's red walled office were four shinobi: Tenten, Shikamaru, Hinata, and–to Tenten's disappointment–Kiba with his ninken, Akamaru. But standing next to Tsunade was someone that shocked all of them with her silent appearance from the corner of the room.

"Shikamaru, Tenten, Hinata, Kiba, your mission is to escort this young lady back to Suna. Her name is Miyu."

The girl bowed respectfully and answered in a child–like voice, "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Konoha ninja."

Her voice, much to everyone's surprise–save for Tsunade who had sort of gotten used to it after listening to it for three hours–sounded so childish, yet with a tone of dignity and a sense of pride that one only expects to find in a Daimyo heiress or lord. Maybe even a princess. She looked up at all of them with a small smile on her face.

Shikamaru looked bored as hell, nothing special there. Tenten was still wary of the young girl that had managed to surprise her earlier, still no surprise. Hinata bowed slightly and answered her back, as any Hyuga would so as to uphold the polite manner associated with the clan. But Tsunade noticed that Kiba had his nose wrinkled in disgust as he looked at the young girl next to her and Akamaru, who was beside his friend, was lying on his stomach with his paws covering his nose.

"Kiba," she asked. "Do you have a problem?"

Inuzuka covered his nose and answered, "I don't mean to be rude, but there's a stench in the air coming from that girl."

The girl he was referring to pursed her cherry lips and wrinkled her brows. Tenten reached over Hinata and smacked the back of Kiba's head. _Yes, the girl is unusual_, she admitted. _But did Kiba have to be so blunt? _

_Oh, Kiba. You shouldn't have insulted her_, Hinata thought with hollow desperation at the lack of class in her teammate. She loved him to death but there were times that she did not want to be associated with him.

"I don't smell anything," Tsunade said mildly as she took another look at the girl.

The girl looked young, barely even fourteen and very petite–barely 5 feet in height. Her hair was a startling color of crimson and her eye, Kiba noticed as he rubbed the spot Tenten had hit, reminded him of Kurenai's scarlet colored ones. But this girls' was richer in hue than his Sensei's. Her bangs covered her forehead, right eye and almost all of her right cheek in an uneven manner, effectively hiding most of her ivory skin. It ended up all the way to her middle back in waves that seemed to be moving even though she was standing still. The visible eye, he noted, seemed to hide something, something important.

On her feet were not shoes that villagers wore; she had on ballet shoes that seemed scuffed with age. They were once a brilliant white, Kiba could tell, but age had darkened the color. The ribbons attached to the ballet shoes were an antique shade of white and wrapped themselves elegantly around the bottom half of her ivory legs, effectively holding down the baggy, navy blue Capri pants that she wore. She wore a red shirt that was ripped around the collar and stretched to just barely cover her shoulders, though it held long sleeves that engulfed most of her arms and ended a bit below her waist.

To the new team, she looked like she was a dancer or something to that effect.

She was a gorgeous girl with a very unique style, no doubt about that, but something was off about her. That was perfectly clear to all of the ninja.

"Hokage," Kiba asked, "what's the rank of this mission?"

Tsunade leaned forward, intertwining her fingers together and looked straight at all of them with unreadable eyes. "It's not even in the books."

All the shinobi jumped slightly at the unfamiliar wording.

Shikamaru's dark eyes glinted slightly. "What do you mean by that?"

"No one is to know that this girl is here, much less that you are taking her back to Suna. This was a request from the Kazekage himself. Gaara–kun wrote that this girl is very special and should be kept under constant surveillance. He had put his siblings on the job as her guardians but she seemed to somehow find a way to escape, of course, not before leaving a note that she was traveling to Konoha."

She leaned back in her chair. "I will not allow failure. Shikamaru, you are team leader. Keep in mind that this is an important mission that I would have normally given to my ANBU members. At the moment I need them here."

The decoded message was in her hands as she gave it a once over, to make sure she didn't miss a thing.

"He also requested that the team I wish to send would stay in Suna until the mission of protecting her is no longer a priority." She set it aside and looked at Kiba. "There seems to be more to this girl than meets the eye. If you want a classification, it'd be a high priority S-rank mission. In addition to escorting her back to Suna, I want you and your team to stay and help them clear up their problem as quickly and cleanly as possible."

Tenten crossed her arms. "Why don't they have ANBU members come and retrieve her if she's so important? _Why_ is she so important?" She quickly backtracked on her words when the Sannin glared at her. "Not that I'm denying the mission. I _will_ do it. I just want to know why, if I may be so bold."

Normally, there would be no backtalk towards the Hokage when it came to Tenten. But a nerve had been hit and the temper of the seventeen year old girl was a bit out of control. Tenten prided herself on discovering enemies before they hit, yet she couldn't see a girl in the corner of the Hokage's office? It was a case of sore pride that caused this little spout of rebellion.

Tsunade glanced at the girl who was sitting on the floor now, folding paper. Amber eyes lingered on her, as if staring at her would clear up some confusion that had been storming inside her brain for two days.

"It could be something, and it could be nothing. But before Miyu ran away she was being chased by someone. The Kazekage's brother found her. She told him that she needed to a safe place to stay or Suna would be destroyed."

The girl faltered in the art of paper folding she was currently doing before picking it back up. Her head was low, so her only visible eye was hidden from the shadows of her hair. A pale finger came up to her lips and she chewed her thumbnail. Tsunade did not miss this gesture but the new team did since they were currently reeling in the situation with slight worry. Especially Tenten who wondered how the Hokage could say such a thing so nonchalantly as if she was telling them that her favorite color was green or something trivial like that.

"I do not know why she's important," Tsunade continued. "That's for you to figure out in addition to protecting her."

The shinobi in the room glanced at the girl, who seemed way younger than any of them. Kiba, who had just a moment ago been wrinkling his nose in distaste, unfurled his nose and breathed deeply in. The smell was gone. In the pressure of the room, it was almost like the smell was being suppressed, though some of it still lingered. _Yes_, he thought, _there's something not right here_.

"Why us?" Kiba wondered, hoping there was a way he could get out of this mission.

Tsunade sighed and rubbed her temple as she thought about the Sake_(1)_ bottle in her desk. How she wished she could open it now. But whenever she did Shizune always seemed to pop up just before the liquid entered her mouth.

"Kiba, if Miyu should slip away from your team then you and Akamaru can track her by smell. Since your clan boasts that yours is very powerful." The Inuzuka barely held back a snort. "Tenten and Hinata are to provide offensive and defensive techniques should the situation arise. Shikamaru would be well suited to figure out any problems that should occur, as well as using his _Kagemane(2)_ to hold the girl in place. Don't hold back. Gaara–kun said that she had a lot of energy, almost like a second Naruto." Tsunade grinned as she saw the look on their faces. It was the same face she had pulled when she read the message.

_Oh, Kami(3)_ _no_, Tenten thought. She was currently thinking that maybe it was a bad idea to ask for a new mission.

Hinata could barely even handle one Naruto, but now two of the same energetic people? Well, at least she wouldn't stutter around the girl as she did around Naruto. The thought of the whisker faced ninja had invaded her mind and a small blush formed on her face.

"Troublesome," said the shadow user before letting out a huge yawn.

Kiba snorted. _Putting up with that smell for Kami knows how long is going to be annoying_.

"You leave tomorrow night. Will you be able to walk properly by then Tenten?"

The weapon's master was taken aback. _How did she know? Well, I apparently wasn't doing a good job of hiding it._

"H-hai." Tenten chastised herself for letting Tsunade see her like this. Tenten wanted to become as strong a ninja as the only girl named Sannin, but if she could not hide something like a couple of blisters, she had a long way to go.

Hinata turned to Tenten, worried for her. "I have some ointment, Tenten–san. Please use it," she offered kindly to the wounded warrior.

Tenten grabbed the dark bottle out of Hinata's outstretched hands. "Arigato, Hinata–chan. You know I have told you to stop being so formal, right? No need for the stuffy suffix."

Ever since Hinata's relationship with Neji had improved, Tenten had gotten close to the Hyuga heiress and considered her a really good friend. Now if only Hinata would drop the polite manners every once in a while.

White eyes grew large at her mix-up. "Pl–please forgive me, Tenten–chan. I'll do my best to remember. I hope your wounds heal quickly." With a pat on the back, Tenten conveyed that she was going to be fine to the worried girl.

Kiba looked between the two of them and smiled his doggy grin as he remembered Tenten the night before. Those heels were nice on the weapons master's feet. And that dress…he was going to have fun on this mission.

"Oh," Tsunade said before the team was dismissed. Her mind really wasn't focused today since there was so much on her plate. Great big thanks to Akatsuki! "By the way, I will deliver her myself to the gates at two o' clock in the morning tomorrow so as to give you the advantage of the night. No one is to know about the specifics of this mission. The guards will not be there for at least a five minute interval if I can help it. Do _not_ be late and pack rather lightly, but for a long journey. Dismissed."

_I should have sent ANBU_, the Hokage chastised herself as she finished with her instructions. But right now they were spread too thin across _Hi no Kuni(4)_ for her to spare any. The Akatsuki were still at large and she had to spread her ANBU out to protect the village, less any of the members look for Naruto in Konoha. Not that they'd find him. She had sent him on a mission in the land of Honey with the new team 7 and was going to keep him out of Konoha for as long as need be.

Most of the Black Ops were on S-class missions along with the regular and specialJōnin. She thought back to the other Chunin in Konoha right now. No, none of them would be suited for this. There was Choji, but his style was more suited to battling or eating. Ino's power wouldn't be required for this and she was busy along with Sakura with shifts at the hospital and the other ones that came to mind were on missions. These were the only ones left…but it's not like Tsunade didn't think they could do the job. She just wasn't sure if they'd be able to work together. It was an interesting notion, to say the least.

Each of them nodded and turned around to get a good night's rest.

Before they left a small grunt had them turn around.

"It was nice to meet you all," the crimson haired girl stated. "Have a nice day and I hope your feet return to their full capacity. While we are on the mission I promise to bathe so I will not be such a bother," The last sentence was accompanied with a glare to the expert tracker who actually looked a bit ashamed.

She released Kiba from her gaze and gave the others a smile. Her cherry lips were curled up and her entire face seemed lit up and excited at the prospect of traveling with them. _She looks like a little princess_, Hinata, Shikamaru and Tenten–three distinct people with different personalities–shared the same thought. The girl stood up and walked over to Tenten, in her hands was a small origami flower.

Tenten smiled, "Arigatō." She accepted the flower and pinned the stem of the paper flower on her shirt between the ties. "Have a good day and try not to bother Tsunade–sama so much." She waved her goodbye.

Hinata bowed. "We will see each other soon." And left to catch up to Tenten.

Kiba was a bit more hesitant. The hairs on his arms had been standing up since he entered the office, but before the girl had stepped out from a corner in the Hokage's office, he couldn't figure out the reason for this feeling of danger. The feeling of danger had subsided when the smell evaporated. But he still wasn't too keen about smelling her for the entirety of the mission. Akamaru wined, sensing his friend's apprehension nudged his hand. Kiba waved, with a nervous smile on his face and quickly walked away.

Shikamaru nodded his acknowledgement and left.

* * *

When the door closed the young girl turned to Tsunade who was reaching for the Sake bottle in her bottom desk drawer.

"I do not like the dog boy," she said tersely. Against her hip was a sketchpad that had written down on it the names of her bodyguards.

Tsunade took a sip right out of the bottle, disregarding the cup in the drawer. "You know, I really don't care. He's a good ninja. If you had not run away in the first place then you would not be stuck with a ninja you didn't like." Another swig from the bottle and her headache was almost nothing but a memory.

The girl pouted. Suddenly the door slammed open. Tsunade jumped, spilling a little of the alcohol and sending Tenten's report flying off the desk which Miyu picked up.

"Tsunade–sama!" Shizune scolded from behind all the papers that she held in front of her chest. "You know you should not be drinking in the Hokage's office!"

The golden haired Sannin smiled and laughed awkwardly at having been caught.

The mission report was slid back on her desk with a note on the cover.

"_Haha_."

Suddenly the headache didn't seem like much of a memory.

* * *

The full moon shone down on the three ninja and one ninken near the gates of Konahagakure where they awaited Tsunade to deliver their mission. As Tsunade had said there were no guards in sight. The air was crisp and the wind blew leaves around them gently, not as rough as winds could be. A leaf flew across Tenten's face and she grabbed it quickly before it blew away. She held it in her hand, looking at it, but not really looking at it, and as the wind began to pick up she released it, watching it fly over the gate and disappearing into the night.

All of them somehow could feel it in their guts that they were not going to be back in Konoha for a long time and it dampened the mood between one another considerably.

"Here they come," Kiba announced, smelling the mission and the Hokage. "Hey, did any of you guys feel her presence when you entered the Hokage's office yesterday?" he asked suddenly. The general melancholy mood was set aside as each focused more on their own feelings.

Tenten shook her head. "No. I was there earlier to deliver my mission report and I never sensed her once. At least, until she sneezed." The memory made her frown.

"I too did not notice her presence," Hinata stated.

She could tell that it was really bothering her longtime teammate and could tell he felt it as small blow to his pride. He was one of the best tracker nin around and if he could not sense this girl, then surely something was up.

Shikamaru sighed, a bit annoyed at having to wake up at one o' clock to prepare for this mission. "Let's just do our mission, even though it's so troublesome."

He closed his eyes as a yawn overpowered him. All he wanted to do was continue sleeping, or maybe lie down on a rooftop and watch the stars. Though a drag, it was a mission he had to complete. Absently, he wondered how it was that Kiba couldn't sense her presence. He was an expert in the tracking field after all.

Tsunade walked up to them, her heels clacking against the cobblestone with a petite girl beside her, dressed in a black cloak. The black cloak was to ensure no one saw her face. She cleared her throat and four ninjas turned their heads in acknowledgment.

"Try to hurry up. I've sent word to Sunagakure telling them that you are on your way. Bye Miyu. Be nice and _don't_ cause trouble." The girl snorted and Tsunade then left, hearing a Sake bottle calling her name, leaving the cloaked girl with her new bodyguards.

As soon as Tsunade couldn't be seen anymore, Miyu began running. She ran past the gates on the marked trail effectively startling the newly formed squad. Leaves shifted upwards in her wake as she sprinted out of Konohagakure and southwest towards the direction of Suna. Quickly assessing the fact that their mission was getting away from them, they ran after her.

"Hey kid what's the rush?" Kiba hissed. _Damn this girl is fast_, he thought. _But not as fast as me and Akamaru_. "Akamaru," he ordered.

The dog, similar looking to a Great Pyrenees, barked his acknowledgement at the order and sped up. Shikamaru and Tenten were fast, but they knew that Kiba was faster.

"Kiba," Shikamaru yelled as he ran. "Keep locked on her scent." He shouted behind Tenten, "Hinata, keep a visual."

Both of the skilled trackers nodded. Cold air whipped around them as they gained speed. Hinata did the snake seal as she closed her eyes in concentration. "_Byakugan_." Veins appeared on the side of her head as she kept her eyes focused on nothing but her target.

The wild haired boy looked back. "Ah, I know. But it seems like she's suppressing the smell or something. I'll do my best." When he looked at the road he could see Akamaru running…but there was nothing in front of him. "Damn."

"Where'd she go?" Tenten asked. She looked around, the moon providing sufficient lighting to illuminate the way but not a thing looked out of place.

Kiba inhaled the air, slightly burning his nostrils with the cold, but could smell nothing. Suddenly, Hinata, who had been frantically searching, pointed up to the treetops. "She's there."

Kiba's slit eyes locked on Miyu who was now jumping from branch to branch, just on the side of the road. All of them jumped up, Akamaru in the lead. He barked and growled. Kiba's black slit eyes widened, and then focused more intently on the girl's cloaked form. The cloaks' hood had fallen back as she jumped a particularly large section between two trees. Her hair seemed to resemble the color of blood in the moonlight, swaying smoothly as she ran. Applying more chakra to his feet and hands he ran quickly on all fours.

She had pushed away from the tree branch successfully but lost momentum and was not going to make it to the next branch; she was falling. Akamaru barked for an order.

"Kiba," Shikamaru commanded, seeing as he was closer to the girl than either of his other teammates.

"Akamaru."

Said dog moved from a top branch to a lower one, almost shadowing Miyu. Both were companions long enough to know what was needed to be done.

Kiba propelled him self at a 45 degree angle to the ground, and jumping off of Akamaru's back for leverage, jumped upwards and caught Miyu. Immediately, an indescribable smell invaded his sensitive nostrils and the hairs all over his body stood on end. He landed hard on his feet, his heart beating faster than normal for a reason he couldn't quite explain. The rest caught up just as Akamaru came out of the woods. The large dog that had walked nearer to the crimson haired girl, growled, whined, barked, and repeated the motions once more causing many head to turn his way.

Tenten saw what he was growling at. "What's wrong with Akamaru, Kiba?"

"Is she okay?" Shikamaru asked.

Kiba gave her the once over. "Yeah, seems like it."

"What was wrong with Akamaru before Kiba?" Tenten asked again.

Kiba looked into Tenten's face with serious eyes. "He said that this girl has the chakra of a ninja. It seems like she was suppressing it before but when she fainted it almost seemed to engulf her entire body. And particularly strong chakra at that. Like Hinata said, it seems to be even stronger than Naruto's."

That statement disturbed them all. They all knew about Naruto being the host of the Kyūubi. And tailed–beasts were said to be massive amounts of energy, so to have Kiba and Hinata think that this girl had more energy than Naruto…was something in of itself.

"Tsunade–sama said that this girl was special," Tenten reasoned. "Maybe, because she's a ninja the Kazekage wants her back. Think she's a missing–nin?"

"If so," Shikamaru drawled, effectively tired out, "then the Hokage would have mentioned it and would be _forced_ to spare some of her ANBU members, not us. So it's not likely."

"Could she be a jinchūriki_(5)_?" Tenten asked, her eyes narrowed.

Shikamaru looked at Kiba and Hinata, "Could she be?"

Both of them had had way more exposure to the hyperactive guy long enough to know his behavior.

Hinata did not answer but her face was the same as Kiba's.

His face contorted into that of a grimace. He thought long and hard about it. "I don't…know. If she was, then I highly doubt she'd faint like she did just now. You've seen Naruto, right? That freak wouldn't faint or tire easily. It doesn't make sense."

Kiba could tell that this girl was probably trained in shinobi ways, but there was something that just wasn't quite right. Naruto had a seal on his stomach that kept the Kyūubi in check and its chakra suppressed. When it broke Kiba's hairs stood up and he could feel imminent danger ahead. But this girl seemed to be suppressing it all on her own–except for the small flair up from when she had first fainted. He could feel his hairs standing up but no threat. Was she really a jinchūriki? Were there more than _nine_ tailed-beasts?

"And," Tenten added, "jinchūriki tend to act sort of untrustworthy of people they don't know and aren't as polite as this girl appeared to be. She wasn't afraid to get close to me when she gave me that flower and she wasn't afraid to stand next to the Hokage looking very much at ease. She just doesn't show the signs of someone who had been isolated in childhood by villagers or her family. There's something else here."

Tenten's input on patterns of behavior surprised them all. They knew she must have been a pretty good kunoichi to survive on a team with Hyuga Neji, Rock Lee, and Might Guy. But team Guy was an attack squad. It seemed that this team also specialized in behaviors of human. Shikamaru wondered if this was due to Neji and his all seeing Byakugan that could see even the slightest muscle move.

Shikamaru gave the girl in Kiba's arms a once over. Her face was slightly red from the cold air whipping around her face as she was running, but other than that she looked peaceful. Now, Shikamaru didn't particularly enjoy women. They were annoying and loud and confusing. He never really saw any of them as pretty.

Except for Temari. To others he complained about her loud mouth, blunt personality, and the fact that she was so infuriating. But to himself, he admitted that he actually liked it. Not that anything could happen between them. She lived in another country whose relationship with his was shaky, though gradually stabilizing. Temari was the Kazekage's big sister…he's heard about Gaara's _Sabaku Kyū(6)_ and the lazy genius wasn't about to go starting anything.

Miyu could be seen as gorgeous to anyone else, and Shikamaru wasn't an exception to that fact if he was being honest, but she was also just another troublesome woman that he had to protect.

"We'll just have to keep her under tighter surveillance. When she wakes up we'll ask her." He glanced at Tenten. "Carry her on your back. We're going to be traveling for a while."

Tenten's eyebrow raised and a look of incredibility crossed her face. "Why me?" She didn't particularly like this Miyu girl. First, she had managed to surprise her back at the Hokage's office. Second, she had taken off and led her team on a pretty troublesome chase. Thirdly, was the fact that she could be a jinchūriki.

It's not like she hated the hosts. She knew it wasn't their fault that they had a beast residing within them. But whenever a tailed beast was mentioned her heart would clench, close up and she'd have trouble breathing until she calmed down. Of course, over the course of the years she's learned to hold it in until she was alone. Tenten hadn't meant to challenge Shikamaru, but it was like her mouth and vocal chords had a thought of their own.

Shikamaru hated to explain himself. _Did she forget that I was the team leader?_

"Because, as you said, she seemed to like you and I thought that when she woke up it would be better for her to see someone familiar."

Hinata tried to tell Tenten that it would be easier if they traded off but Tenten did not want to worry Neji's cousin about such a trivial thing. Though, secretly she wouldn't have minded that much for a trade off.

She raised her eyebrows at the lazy genius but didn't say anything after her talk with Hinata. _He so lazy that he doesn't want to carry her himself_, she muttered angrily in her head. Kiba put Miyu on her feet and helped her onto Tenten's back. As Tenten stood up, Kiba was reminded of the night at the restaurant and the tight Chinese dress that left nothing to the imagination. Now Tenten had on her _loose_ Chinese style clothing, but Kiba could see part of her figure through it and he smiled.

Tenten caught the look and threatened, "Watch it, Inuzuka or you'll find yourself cut into a million little pieces." The look in her eye and tone of voice was deadly and the younger man backed off.

"C'mon, I want to at least get twelve miles before morning," the shadow user grumbled to his team.

* * *

**A/N:**

_1. Sake_ – Japanese alcoholic beverage also known as 'rice wine'.

_2. Kagemane_ – shadow technique

_3. Kami_ – God

_4. Hi no Kuni_ – land of Fire or Fire Country

_5. Jinchuriki_ – humans with a tailed beast sealed inside them. Literal meaning "Power of human sacrifice".

_6. Sabaku Kyu_ – sand binding coffin

_7. Arigato_ – thank you in Japanese.

**Okay, another chapter done. I apologize ahead of time but things might be moving slow in the beginning. Later on, I'll try my best to speed things up.**

**Hope you guys are excited for new chapters.**

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	3. Quota

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

* * *

**Quota**

"Gaara," a voice usually rash, called out rather softly. "You should get to sleep. There's nothing you can do right now when you're on the verge of passing out."

The Kazekage of Suna looked up from his desk towards the open door of his office. He understood her words, he understood that she technically had authority over him, but that didn't mean that he had to like any of her suggestions. Especially now.

"I'm busy," he grunted.

Truth was, he really wanted to just stretch out his cramping muscles but in doing that he felt that it was a form of weakness, weakness that he did not need to show his big sister.

She sighed, but did not relent. "You can do that after you get your regular three hours of sleep. You've been up for the past three days…if you keep pushing yourself like this you're going to wind up in the hospital again."

His face was emotionless, but inside he flinched. He knew she was right. If he kept pushing himself like this he would not be able to get up for quite a while. But he didn't want to leave his office. He felt like there was something he was so close to understanding and if he kept staring at the reports on his desk that it was going to click. But he knew that it was futile. He didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle yet.

Temari sighed. "I know," she said emphatically. "But there's nothing productive we can do until Miyu comes back."

This got him to stop. He'd almost forgotten about her with all the stuff going on. A bit of anger flashed in his eyes that had Temari second guessing her original plan of getting her younger brother to sleep, but the look went away after he settled himself down. After all, Gaara wasn't one to show too much emotion at one time.

He began to clean up the mess that had accumulated slowly over the past three months as best he could.

The corner of the blonds' lips curled upwards for an instance before settling back down. Usually, he would put up a fight and would eventually become the victor, but not tonight. It was nine o' clock; usually a time where shinobi's of the sand village would go out for drinks, a time for partying. Gaara hadn't slept, if Temari's numbers were correct, for seventy-seven hours and forty-eight minutes. No party for him tonight. In fact, no parties for anyone tonight until their issues were resolved.

She had just finished her patrol inside the civilian section of Suna and wasn't due back until one o' clock so she was going to catch up on her sleep since her paperwork was done. Pushing away from the doorway she had been leaning against she began the–luckily–short trek towards the condominium she shared with her brothers.

The moon showered its yellow glow on the empty streets of Suna and created a sort of glow around the sand kunoichi. Temari gazed up at the moon and felt a chill enter her body as the wind picked up. It wasn't a pleasant wind. It roared for a moment and broke off a hinge of a sign posted above a small restaurant before dying down again. Temari wasn't a suspicious person–never had been. But something just didn't feel right about this night.

She shrugged off the superstitious feeling, not really wanting to do anything besides get into bed for the next four hours.

After unlocking the door and locking it behind her, she began to quickly dispose of her clothes. She kicked off her sandels messily and then put them near the door very neatly. Her hair-ties were next. She slid those off and put them around her wrist. Short sandy blond locks were finally free from their strict confinement. She ran a hand through her hair to try to get it to stay down and could feel the bumps left by the hairstyle as she walked into the bathroom. Next her ANBU uniform and fan came off. The uniform was tossed into the hamper and the fan was situated next to the locked door.

She stood still for a second, listening. A small grimace grazed her tan face as she heard the rumbling snores of Kankurō. Usually he didn't snore, but he had been pulling triple shifts, same as her, around the village. Only when her little brother was truly exhausted or something was bothering him did he snore.

Frowning at the thought of her shifts and political problems she turned on the faucet of the white tub and let the water pool for her bath. She could feel a dull pain surround her head and stab at her eyes from the work overload and put a hand to her forehead. She delivered a small stream of cooling chakra and sighed at just how much release such a small amount brought her. Unfortunately, she could not continue delivering soothing chakra to herself because she did not have much left after today.

As soon as the tub was filled with hot water she lowered herself down, wincing slightly at the heat, until she finally settled down and let the heat soothe her aching and overused muscles. The aftermath of the day settled upon her and before she knew it she had fallen asleep.

* * *

Gaara came back an hour later, finally finished putting all the paperwork away in a safe place for him to find later on in the night, and walked towards the bathroom that he knew Temari was occupying.

He knocked, rather loudly, on the door and received no answer just as he anticipated.

"Temari!" he said loudly, not really caring if he woke up his older brother or not. "Did you fall asleep again?" he asked.

Water sloshed inside as he heard something move. Sighing, he closed his eyes and used his sand to travel under the door and unlock it. He moved inside with eyes closed securely. Gaara knew that if he peeked he would be scarred for life and quite possibly killed by his fan wielding sister.

In a strong voice that could send shivers up the spines of the elders he spoke, "Temari, wake up and get dressed."

A yawn came from in front of him. "G–Gaara?" Her voice was coated with fatigue and the sound of sloshing water sounded around the sandy colored bathroom. "Sorry, it was a really nice bath and I guess I just…I'll be going to bed now."

She grabbed a towel and wrapped it securely around her body. Temari felt like laughing as soon as she saw Gaara with his eyes shut tight with wrinkles above his nose that made him look comically angry. Before she passed him to exit the bathroom she put a tan hand on his shoulder, something that before would have been taboo. "Do not let me catch you awake or I swear to Kami I will strap you down to a hospital bed myself," she warned. In a light voice she chirped, "Good night."

If it was in Gaara's nature, he would have smiled at her antics. Ever since the attack from Akatsuki both siblings have opened up immensely towards him.

It was strange how Gaara dying really brought things back into perspective with his family.

He was discovering new things about the people–siblings–he had been paired up with for about nine years. Although he was receiving about their feelings, he was still apprehensive about sharing his. Left over influence from Shikaku, he figured. Or maybe it just wasn't in his nature to be an open person. Whichever one it was still a problem that he was trying to fix. But no one had ever told him that having feelings other than hatred and bloodlust were so difficult.

He didn't have those feelings for his siblings, anymore at least. It was just that he did not comprehend how to match his new feelings for them in words. After locking the door and peeling off of the heavy gourd, resting it on far corner of the room, he rid himself of his _Suna no Yoroi_ _(1)_ in order to take a proper shower. The young Kazekage squirmed, feeling naked as his armor of sand pooled to his feet. He had only worn it because he left the city for a few hours and had to be extra careful.

He wiped some sweat on his forehead that accumulated because of the heavy armor and stepped into the shower. Grabbing some of his older brother's shampoo, he tried not to think about anything but failed miserable.

With the weight of Suna on his shoulders, Gaara barely ever had time to rest. But now…it was even worse.

There had been several kidnappings that occurred over the course of three months. Of course, when they had first started it was a very serious matter that they hoped to solve quickly, silently, and efficiently. Instead, further investigation of the situation revealed that none of the civilians affected had any sort of problems with anyone in their lifetime. Small disputes yes, but nothing that would illicit anyone to commit a crime for revenge. So they began wondering who in the world would want to harm those innocent families.

As the weeks went by Kankurō, who had been appointed to help lead the investigation alongside Temari, began suspecting that maybe none of the crimes had anything personal to do with the victims. Instead, he suspected that there could be an organization behind this.

The reason for this suspicion was the elevation of the crime. At first, it was one person every two weeks, four people every two weeks and then it grew to seven kidnappings every two weeks, and the fact that it appeared to be random selection at random intervals.

Because it was random selection, they were having trouble finding where they would strike next and when. It also made it difficult to pinpoint an exact location of their hideout.

That was the reason Kankurō was snoring. He had been going over a lot of reports rereading, rememorizing all the information to create a profile on the criminals for most of the afternoon. Gaara and his big brother had spent the better part of the morning pouring over the city blueprints in an attempt to find out where they could be located. After that, Gaara had to dismiss Kankurō for guard duty around the civilian part of Sunagakure.

Guard duty had been very strict and most of Gaara's Black Ops were the ones who were keeping guard on the village walls, while others went undercover as civilians to see if any rumors on the suspected organization whereabouts could be uncovered. Regrettably, there was no news of any such things. Even stranger was that not even sensor nin could identify any form of foreign chakra while on patrol.

The only thing that Gaara found out was that the villagers had taken to calling the kidnappers Mayonaka Yajuu _(2)_. His pale fists clenched as he tried to fight the rage that had been building up ever since this had first started. It was his job as Kazekage to protect his people. They trusted him. If it was the last thing that he did, he was going to shut down this organization for good.

Taking a few calming breaths, as Temari had instructed him to do more often; he fruitlessly tried to calm down. Deciding he had had enough of a shower Gaara switched off the knobs and dried himself thoroughly. He draped a towel around his waist and walked out.

Inside the room he shared with Kankurō he picked out clean ninja gear so that three hours later when he woke up he could leave quickly. He checked the time.

Using his sand he lifted up Kankurō's big body and dropped him very unceremoniously on the floor. This startled the Jonin who had been happily dreaming about eating a very large, steamy steak with a group of stereotypical blondes at his beck and call.

"Gaara," he growled, though his voice was heavy with sleep. He shook his brown head and instantly woke up. "You couldn't have been gentler?"

Knowing that he would receive no answer from his younger brother he quickly dressed, though took his time with his facial markings, and made sure that he had everything before walking calmly out the door and towards the Kazekage tower for a very long shift with few breaks. The dry, yet cold, air felt refreshing but certainly did nothing to tame the knot in the puppeteer's stomach at the thought of another day going by with no results.

_If only Miyu didn't run away, then we'd be able to solve this so much quicker, _Kankurō grumbled to himself. She had answers, yet would not willingly give them when she had been here. When that girl came back with those Konoha ninja, he would definitely have a few choice words with her.

"Kankurō–sama!" A shinobi came running from behind. "Kankurō–sama!"

The shinobi paused for a mild second to catch his breath, looking as though he had just run a triathlon.

"What is it?" The puppeteer asked curtly.

"There has been another kidnapping."

Even with the make up that usually hid a couple of his subtle emotions, the lividness behind the face was very apparent and the anger in the shinobi's words was not lost on Kankurō. Everyone was taking this hard because they viewed it as if someone was mocking them. Most of the kidnappings happened in the early hours where most ninja were up and roaming the city.

Once, Kankurō remembered that he had been walking the streets of the civilians on his guard when not five minutes after he passed a house with blue shutters out came a father who yelled, "Mayonaka Yajuu have struck my house. My daughter and son! They are gone!"

Gruffly and filled with bitterness, Kankurō clipped, "That fills the quota for the two weeks. Twenty-six out of twenty–eight hundred." He frowned, the spark of anger in his eyes giving him new found motivation to not kill Gaara for the rude wakeup call and instead focusing on the matter at hand.

The shinobi frowned as well. "Twenty six too many."

* * *

**A/N:**

1. _Suna no Yoroi_ – armor of sand

2. _Mayonaka Yajuu_ – midnight beasts

Miyu means "beautiful moon".

**I gotta say, I really love that last line. **

**Hope you guys enjoyed. I thought I'd give you guys a different scene as to why the Kazekage really wants Miyu back. I know you guys want to know what's up with this girl and what in the world can't Gaara sleep for more than three hours? But all in due time. **

**I'm working on my other stories so please be patient. Remember, this story was already written out. But I'm sick and feel horrible – not a good environment for inspiration but I'll see what I can do today on my other stores without passing out from exhaustion. **

**Can you believe my parents made me walk up a mountain? They knew I was sick too and right now all that exertion is just taking its toll on me. **

**R&R please. **

**Love: Lola of the Peaches **

**=]**


	4. Speculation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

* * *

**Speculation**

At the crack of dawn Miyu began stirring on Tenten's back. Akamaru wined, not really wanting this strange girl to be conscience and fought the urge to growl since Kiba had already warned him against it. There was also the funny feeling in the pit of his stomach that was a problem. Akamaru couldn't describe it to his master, which was why he felt the need to growl in frustration at the girl. It made him feel funny and uneasy. Akamaru stuck his wet nose in Kiba's open palm.

Kiba smiled down at his friend and petted his head. The odor was fading as she regained consciousness. "I know, boy. Yo," he called out, "Tenten, she's waking up."

"Well it's about time," Tenten mumbled as she readjusted Miyu to a more comfortable position on her back.

She wasn't exactly physically tired or hurt from carrying the young girl–though her feet ached slightly–but mentally annoyed. The girl had been asleep for four hours straight and was snoring into Tenten's ear. The snoring, combined with Kiba's obnoxious tales about him and Shikamaru's exciting childhood or team Kurenai's exciting missions he told to pass the time, was more that she could bear. Had this been her regular team she would have already blocked out anything that Lee and Guy–sensei were bound to say, or rather shout, but she'd been out of practice since she hadn't seen them for a while and blocking out Kiba's voice was like trying to block out Kakashi's Chidori _(1)_: impossible.

"C'mon," Kiba spoke lightly. "She can't weight that much. Maybe you need to start training more instead of hanging out in high-class establishments," he teased.

Hinata gave the boy a look of reprimand but he did not acknowledge it. She knew that Tenten would not be comfortable speaking about those kinds of missions. It was shown plainly on her face at the restaurant that she didn't like the mission in the first place.

Shikamaru pointedly ignored the argument since he was ignorant of what they were talking about.

In a light and airy tone that held more thinly veiled vehemence than was really necessary she said, "Say one more word and I'll kill you, mission damned."

Hinata sighed, knowing that any threat sent to Kiba usually went over his head and towards the land of Honey, never to be seen again. She felt bad for Tenten and wanted to help save her some embarrassment that Kiba was bound to cause but nothing came to her mind, so she walked in silence, trying to figure out how to stop Kiba from laughing at every threat made to his life.

Kiba laughed, completely unaffected. He didn't think that his new teammate could retain her speed throwing a variety of kunai while holding a child on her back. Especially not with that large scroll on her back that Tenten had refused to remove. He had the advantage if she ever made good on her threat. He was known to be–and bragged to be–the man with the fastest reflexes besides Rock Lee without his weights.

Hands fisted underneath Miyu's legs as Tenten tried to keep her cool. If she lost it she would not hesitate to throw Miyu down and fire weapon after weapon at dog-boy. Tenten could feel the warmth of the girl's breath on her neck and flinched when her small nose travelled across her neck, tickling the weapon mistress.

A loud yawn sounded in Tenten's ears.

"Tenten–san?" a drowsy child–like voice asked.

"Hai."

"I will walk," she stated.

The group stopped. Tenten let her down as gently as she could. Miyu, still disoriented, slid to the ground with a hard thump. Her visible eye was half-closed.

Hinata took a step towards her. "Are you alright?"

Miyu closed her eye and nodded. "It is of no consequence to you."

Hinata understood and did not reach out to help her up. The girl stood up slowly, stumbling slightly as she tried to regain her balance, and then stood erect, though her eye was still partially closed.

"Hinata–san?"

"Yes, Miyu–san?"

Miyu gestured for the return of her bag that Hinata had been holding ever since she had passed out. Hinata handed it over.

"Shikamaru–san? I wish to bathe. Can this be arranged?"

The shadow user gave her a lazy look. "You can bathe properly in Suna," he stated.

Miyu did not relent. "While I am aware of that fact, I wish to do it now."

"Answer me one question and then Hinata and Tenten can take you down to a river."

She deliberated on whether or not to accept the trade for a long moment.

"Very well," she said diplomatically. "But on one stipulation."

Everyone held their breaths for the condition she was going to give them.

"I wish to bathe alone."

Kiba narrowed his eyes. "No."

She turned towards him gracefully with a small smile on her face, as if she had a joke that she couldn't get out of her head.

"I understand why you do not wish it so. However, I cannot bathe with two kunoichi watching me."

"Why?" Tenten felt compelled to ask.

She kind of wanted to just get off this subject because she felt like she was intruding too much on the girl's privacy. However, she was the mission and a ninja had to know everything about a mission in order to carry it out to its fullest extent.

Miyu looked downcast, a frown on her lips. "It is personal." She looked up to Shikamaru. "I am willing to make a bargain."

He slipped his hands in his pockets, his gaze never leaving hers. "And what's that?"

"That Akamaru, alone, should accompany me. I believe him capable of keeping me in line, do you not agree?"

All eyebrows raised, and Akamaru's eyes widened. Yes, he understood what people said. How else would he be able to back Kiba up when someone bad mouthed him? He was a tracker inu. He was smarter than the average dog. He was also very surprised at the feelings that stirred inside him at Miyu's voice. His tail wagged so furiously that any faster and it would probably detach. There was a funny feeling in his stomach that almost hurt with its intensity; it was enough to make him whine, however. Shikamaru noticed but didn't really know what to make of it. Kiba was thoroughly confused.

"You…" Kiba trailed off, still trying to wrap his head around her words. "Want Akamaru to go with you?"

"Unless you wish to come as well?"

Tenten, Hinata, and Shikamaru had to do a double take at the look that painted their teammates face. For possibly the second time in his life, Kiba blushed deeply. For a moment, Tenten and Shikamaru thought, he resembled Hinata whenever Naruto would accidentally touch her. The first time that Kiba blushed furiously had happened when he had been accidentally exposed to a women's only bathhouse when he was ten years old and still felt embarrassment over intruding on other's privacy.

Kiba looked away unable to keep his gaze on the beautiful girl. "N–no."

Tenten had trouble trying to control the laughter that threatened to overtake her. It was about time someone put Kiba in his place. Of course, Tenten would have rather done so a bit more physically, with some possible taijutsu involved, but nevertheless she was happy. Hinata, being true to her nature, blushed at the implication Miyu had given Kiba. The team leader smirked slightly before his face turned serious.

"Miyu–san, it is our mission to protect you. In order to do that we have to be with you at all times. Given your track record of running away I'm not sure that just having a dog accompany you will be enough. No offense to you guys," he added the last part due to glares from members of the Inuzuka tribe.

She nodded her head. "I am well aware of how to carry out a mission, Shikamaru–san," her tone was cryptic. "I was once trained as a shinobi."

There was a long pause as a distant look came into Miyu's eye before she snapped out of her trance. "I ask for only five minutes alone. I swear to you that I will not cause any more trouble for you, or at the very least I will not run away anymore."

Shikamaru deliberated and regarded Miyu's face in silence. He also made a mental note to ask the Kazekage for her shinobi file.

"Why did you run away before?" he asked.

"There is something happening in Sunagakure that, if let alone, will cause devastation not only for Sunagakure, but for the other countries as well. I will let the Kazekage explain it in greater detail. The reason that I ran away was to receive assistance from those who Hokage Tsunade sees as a valuable asset. I have heard of her accomplishments and trust her judgment implicitly. Though I have yet to see you in battle, I know that your skills will aid Sunagakure."

"Very well," he decided. "Five minutes and then we're coming for you. Understand?"

A bright smile appeared on Miyu's face. "Dōmo arigatō."(2) She looked at Akamaru. "Will you accompany me Akamaru–san?"

For some strange reason Akamaru jumped towards her and rubbed his face into her shirt. He looked up at her with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth and dark eyes sparkling. The look in his face reminded Kiba of how Akamaru looked after being released from the vet and finally able to see his master. Miyu giggled and petted him on his head as they made their way just twenty feet away from the rest of the group.

Kiba gaped at his companion's actions. "What the hell?"

* * *

The group found themselves nearing the border of Suna at a moderate pace. If they kept up this pace Shikamaru was sure they would reach the village by tomorrow morning.

Thankfully, Miyu had kept her promise and did not run away, nor was she causing trouble for anyone as she simply walked beside Akamaru. She had come back looking almost exactly as she had before, except that she had changed her pants for shorts and her cloak had been stuffed inside her large bag.

The sun overhead signaled that it was about five o' clock. It'd been four hours since they last stopped and Shikamaru wondered if he should give the young girl a break. He glanced over and saw her starting to slow down.

Miyu had been walking rather calmly for the better part of the morning. As they continued on, however, she started feeling a bit disoriented. She took a step and faltered slightly, but she quickly righted herself so as not to attract too much attention.

"Shikamaru–san, Kiba–san, what are your ages?" she suddenly asked.

"Sixteen," answered Shikamaru.

"Fifteen," Kiba said indignantly, trying not to show how he felt a bit inferior being the youngest the of the group.

All saw Miyu's shoulder's drop in disappointment.

"Why?" Shikamaru asked.

Miyu shook her head. "I would rather not discuss that with you. Personal reasons."

Hearing a thud, everyone stopped and looked at the crimson haired girl who was currently digging inside of the bag Tsunade had given her.

She pulled out a needle, and they wondered just what she was going to do with that.

"Miyu–san," Tenten asked. "What are you doing?"

Opening the cap, she paused to reassure them. "Administering a special chemical to my system. I am in the beginning stages of crashing for I cannot keep my balance." There was a dark look of horror in the visible eye that soon vanished and was replaced with a professional look. "I am trying to stop it before it spreads."

"Do you have some sort of illness?" Hinata inquired.

The petite girl shrugged. "Yes and no. This is specially designed chemical intended to speed up my cells and the reproduction of them. It is not something anyone but me should try because it will not work on anyone but me. I will get into greater detail as you further your investigations in Suna." Almost to herself, she muttered, "I introduced this to my system two weeks ago…odd."

"What do you mean by that?" Inuzuka Kiba, the only one who could hear that statement, asked in a very strained tone. It wasn't that he was specifically angry at her. In fact, he was jealous. Not that he'd ever admit it to anyone, especially himself.

Ever since Akamaru and Miyu came back Akamaru had stuck to her like glue. He didn't even glance at Kiba once! This made Inuzuka very angry, but he said nothing because as long as Akamaru was sticking close to the mission, there was no way that they were going to fail. The Inuzuka boy kicked the ground. He didn't like walking as much as he did running or getting a ride from his best friend. It just didn't feel right.

The rest of the group looked at Kiba and hoped that he'd elaborate his question?

"I cannot comprehend it myself just yet, so any answer I give you would be wasteful." She injected the adrenaline into the major vein in her arm, not even bothering to lift up her sleeves and stood still for a long time.

Tenten bristled. They had only been on this mission for less that twenty-four hours and already she was itching to impale somebody with her kunai. All Miyu did was hide behind excuses when she should have been giving answers. It was either: "I can't tell you at this moment in time" or "You'll have to wait until we arrive at Sunagakure". They had tried to ask her some questions about Suna's situation but did they receive a straightforward answer?

Needless to say, all this side-stepping was really grating on everyone's nerves.

Hinata stepped forward, "Are you alright?"

"Do not touch me…" after that statement she quickly bent forward on her knees and held her hair covered eye in her hand. "Do not worry yourselves, this is normal."

Her face grimaced with pain and she was unable to prevent whimpers and groans from escaping her lips. The other hand gripped the dirt path as her breath quickened.

The shinobi wished they could do something, but none had any medical training and reluctantly complied with her wishes. Akamaru, distressed, walked around her and whined in uncertainty.

"I don't know what your definition of normal is," Kiba stated cautiously, "but in my books this isn't normal." Kiba wasn't paying much attention to the girl as he was distracted by his companion's actions. Akamaru wanted to know if she was okay, but Kiba didn't know what to say.

Miyu managed to hold herself up with a quivering arm as she panted for breath. This continued for only thirty seconds that seemed longer to the ones watching the spectacle feeling helpless. The petite female stood up gracefully, acting as if nothing had just happened. And looked as if nothing had happened. Akamaru sat at her feet and pushed his face into her stomach.

"It is just that this is not the usual way that I receive this chemical and my body is not used to it. It was shock to my system, I suppose I could say." She dusted her self off and scratched Akamaru lightly behind the ears. "Shall we continue on our trek? If we wish to make it to Sunagakure by morning then I advise we leave now."

She began to walk away but stopped abruptly as she felt something take control of her body. "Shikamaru–san," she stated calmly. "Is there something you wish to discuss?"

Shikamaru sighed. This whole mission was just filled with awkwardness because this girl was just keeping way too many secrets and would not give enough answers. Her actions didn't really help clear anything up either, if anything they added to the awkwardness ten fold. Vaguely, he wondered if he'd be able to fall asleep unnoticed while they went on ahead without him. He shook his head to clear it and focused on the girl caught in his jutsu.

"You want answers," she stated formally. "Believe me, if I knew for certain I would happily divulge such privileged information to you and your companions. However, there is something that keeps me from making this possible so I strongly urge you to consider my request for silence until we reach the Kazekage. I promise to try my best to answer your questions but I reserve the right to keep some things to myself," she answered eloquently, reminding Shikamaru of a Hyuga or a princess.

To herself she thought, _If only Sai from Root was here. He would understand, if only slightly_.

The team leader looked at everyone for a majority answer.

"Fine by me," Tenten answered casually.

Hinata nodded. "Yes, that seems reasonable."

Everyone looked pointedly at Kiba and waited for him to agree or flat out refuse.

"As long as you answer my questions and explain yourself eventually, I'm fine with it."

Kiba looked away from the group as wind blew through them from the south. The air was dry, slightly sandy, and not humid at all. They were close.

"Shikamaru, we're near the border."

The shadow user drooped his eyes, very uninterested, but still on alert, as he announced for all of them to get back in formation and continue. Tenten and he were to walk beside Miyu, Kiba in the back and Hinata in the front. The shadow user released his hold on Miyu to conserve his chakra. At that very moment, a particularly large bluebird dropped from the sky and circled the group from above. Tenten, not needing any prodding from her leader, grabbed a kunai and flung it at the offender only to see it dodged with speed uncharacteristic of most bluebirds.

"Is it the enemy?" Tenten asked, poised to deliver another kunai should it get too close for comfort.

"No, wait." Miyu gripped the weapon mistress's arm with only slight pressure as a signal to stop. "Please, halt."

Everyone had gotten into battle stance for the unseen enemy and quickly halted their movements but did not release their stances.

The bluebird ruffled its royal blue colored feathered tips and puffed out its warm red-brown breast as it perched itself on the arm of the girl with crimson hair. It was about three times the size of a regular bluebird with the talons of a hawk.

"Shinobi of Konoha," Miyu announced in a regal manner, having all of them involuntarily stand at attention, much to their annoyance afterwards. "This is Hitoshi _(3)_, a summon of mine." She paused for a bit, letting them take in the information.

"I apologize for not mentioning this before but I did not wish to make my suspicions into a big deal. I called upon Hitoshi as I took a bath and told Akamaru to not say anything. Hitoshi was to search the path we were to take for any signs of danger. The men who had chased me in Sunagakure are smart and I would not put it past them to enter Hi no Kuni illegally and plant traps to delay our advancement."

All of them could not believe what she was saying.

"Did you not trust us to protect you?" Tenten demanded to know. _And how in the world did we not notice that she had called a summon_? Agreeing with her demand, Kiba nodded.

"Or were you underestimating us?" Shikamaru asked seriously. Losing the droopy eye and lazy posture he now stood erect and fully alert, a bit angry as well. He knew he was a capable shinobi–so what if he was a little lazy. The shadow user knew that he could protect this troublesome woman without fault.

Hinata looked worriedly back and forth between all of them and stammered, not really knowing what to say. She did feel slightly betrayed but there must have been a reason Miyu had not told them, right? The shy girl twiddled her fingers nervously as she wondered what was going to happen now.

"Oi!" the blue bird squawked. " 'Ow dare ya speak t'way t'Miyu–hime? 'O do ya think ya are?" He began jumping up and down her arm, pacing in a bird-like manner.

Hitoshi's broken language surprised the shinobi. None had ever heard this dialect before in their lives and were having trouble making it out. The best conclusion they reached was that it sounded sick and angry and apparently thought much of his summoner.

A pale hand with blood red nails came up to stroke the birds' ruffled feathers in a soothing manner causing the red–brown feathers on its chest to puff out and then settle down.

For some reason, unfathomable to the shinobi, Miyu had not flinched or faltered once while the large bird with sharp talons jumped on her arm. If it had been them, they were sure that their arms would be full of scratches. However that didn't seem to be the case with Miyu.

"It is perfectly fine Hitoshi. These are my escorts and body guards. They are here to help." She began to introduce them. "The one with the buns is Tenten–san–"

"She's t'one who threw tat kun'i. Ain't she?" He turned its head towards Miyu for an opinion before turning back to Tenten. " 'Orrible aim that one," he bluntly commented.

A vein appeared ominously on Tenten's forehead. No one had ever insulted her aim before. Oh, but it wasn't just her aim that this summon had insulted. It was her pride as a weapon's master and a shinobi. She worked hard to improve her aim and to be the best of the best. How dare this stupid excuse for a parrot tell her otherwise.

Her knuckles turned white on the handle of the kunai in her hand as she spoke through clenched teeth, "Nice to meet you too." Her coffee colored eyes glared at the large bluebird as she pondered on using various torture methods on the animal. Kiba held his hand over his mouth to drown out the laughter.

Miyu gave Tenten an apologetic smile before continuing.

"The pale eyes girl is Hyuga Hinata–"

Hitoshi flapped his wings rather vigorously, creating a bit of wind from its rather large wings.

"Oi! She's got shiny eyes! An' she's real cute! Ya shou' 'ave me out more of'en."

Hinata blushed, uncomfortable at the thought of being admired by a bird. Inuzuka didn't like it either as he glared at the bird for making his teammate uncomfortable.

"A–Arigato?"

Miyu pointed to the next pair. "The dog is Akamaru and his owner is Inuzuka Kiba they are skilled tracker nin." She paused, waiting for the bird to input its comment, but since none came she continued. "The dark haired boy is Nara Shikamaru, he is the team leader so be respectful."

Hitoshi tilted its head to the side. "Ay once 'ad a house t'looked like ya hair. Kids consta'ly pooped on it. Had to move; t'smell was too much."

Kiba couldn't help but to let out a chuckle at that comment. He'd love to hear what a _dis_respectful comment sounded like. Though, he wondered why the bird didn't comment on him. He sobered up as Shikamaru, unaffected by the comment, questioned the summoner.

"You said that you sent Hitoshi-san out to scope the area. I would like to hear if he came back with any useful information."

The bluebird squawked at the fact that he was being underestimated by this child. "Oi chick. I's lots old'r than youse an' I won't be talk'd t'that way! If it's info'mation ya want, info'mation ya get." He fluttered his royal blue feathers, signaling them closer. They hesitated.

"He will not hurt you if I do not wish it. And I did say that I was not to cause any more trouble, correct? He is signaling proximity because he feels that there is someone out there who may be listening. No use in trying to smell them out pup," she addressed the last part to Akamaru. "Their scent is unnoticeable unless you know what you are looking for."

There was a small container on the back of Hitoshi's knobby brown legs that Miyu unclipped. Using a pin hanging from the side her backpack she grabbed a piece of green cloth and pulled it out. She held it in front of Akamaru's noise for a while, then in front of Kiba's. Kiba reached out to hold it, to smell it better, but she pulled away.

"If you touch it, the smell will fade. Take the largest breath you have ever taken in your life," she instructed as she held it up once more. Kiba compiled a large amount of chakra to his noise and was able to smell the cloth much better.

"Even with my chakra enhanced nose, I smell only the faintest scent of chemicals." He paused. "With a bit of citrus if I'm not mistaken."

"Ay," the bird agreed. "Tha's the scent of 'em monsters."

Tenten, who decided to let her anger go for now, addressed the bird. "You've seen what they look like?"

Hitoshi nodded. "Five of 'em. I didn't get a chance t'view their powers, but I can say tat its too powerful fo' ya Konoha nin. Like ya frien' 'ere," he pointed one of his wings towards Kiba and Akamaru. "I can tell apart dang'ous chakra an' these monsters ain't kiddin' 'round." He focused his beady black eyes on his summoner. "Call that idiot 'ere fo' backup. Ya gonna need it."

"What did you scout, Hitoshi–kun?" Miyu asked.

"They's waitin' fo' youse. 'Bout ten feet af'er the border. Only one trap tat they's set up an' it's a hun'red feet from youse. They's plagiarized it."

Hitoshi leaned in to whisper something into Miyu's ear. In a split second her face went from serious to frantic. It was as if she couldn't believe what was being said to her.

"H-how can this be?" she asked no one in particular. Hitoshi jumped up to grab hold of a low branch, just above Hinata's head. "How could they replicate it?" she began pacing. "I _myself_ made sure that no one would ever be able to create such a _monstrosity_ ever again. Even he…he–I never showed him how!" she cried frantically. As she paced back and forth with fervor she bit on her thumbnail. "He must have…. Oh, I am a complete and utter pitiful excuse for a shinobi!"

Her small hand pressed itself against her chest, over her heart, trying desperately to hold her composure. Akamaru whined and grew agitated as he watched this girl go over the brink.

"Miyu–san, is something the matter?" Hinata asked, worried sick over the state of mind of the girl.

Tenten, unable to bear watching this girl torment herself so, grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her vigorously. The vigor shaking from the kunoichi snapped Miyu out of her frantic haze. Strained composure made it onto her small features as she disentangled herself from Tenten.

"What's wrong Miyu–san?" she asked. The others kept quiet, afraid that even a single loud noise would disturb this girl.

She shook her head dejectedly at the weapon mistress. "May we find camp for the night? There is something that you must know. Something that we must prepare for."

* * *

**A/N:**

**I'm not sure about this chapter. Not sure at all. I kind of like it, kind of don't. but it paves the way for many scenes coming up. So I guess I have no complaints about it. Long chapter, though. 11 pages. **

1. _Chidori_ – a thousand birds (can you drown out a thousand birds?)

2. _Domo Arigato_ – thank you.

3. _Hitoshi_ – 'even tempered' or 'level' two things which this character is not. I like the name though.

**Review and tell me how I'm doing so far. I'm trying to keep true to the characters so if I missed something I'd love for someone to call me out on it. **

**By the way, those who thought that Temari and Gaara were really close in the last chapter, well, Temari is trying to be a good older sister to someone that she didn't even consider a brother for years. Yeah, Kankuro and Gaara are closer, which is why Gaara and him were spending the better part of that morning going over blueprints together and why Gaara played a little trick on Kankuro by dumping him on the floor. I should have wrote that Gaara went to bed with a smirk on his face. **

**Hope that clears up someone's confusion or whatever. **

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	5. Traps of an Age

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

* * *

**Traps of an Age**

Morning settled peacefully among the horizon. It turned the sky a faded orange and violet as the sun came up ever so slowly, taking its time to start the day. However, there were some who were rather eager to just get it over with.

Through the cover of thick, green leaves the barest rays of light illuminated the makeshift campground that had been set up in a small clearing. A ray of light directly lit up Tenten's sleeping face as she turned to her side. She scrunched up her eyes, not enjoying the burst of unexpected light so early in the morning. With closed eyes she rose up from her sleeping bag, and immediately wanted to get back inside and close it up.

It was a crisp, cold morning. But nothing that they weren't used to. Though, even if they were used to it, it didn't mean that they had to like it.

Hinata and Shikamaru were in the trees, having kept an eye on the surroundings of their campground for five hours. They jumped down, feeling stiffness in their bones from their previous unmoving positions. The cold air whipped across their face making them both frowned slightly. Their sleeping bags had already been rolled up so all that was left was to wake up the rest of them, have breakfast and move out.

"Tenten–chan?" Hinata called out softly, wondering if her friend was awake having seen her move before.

Tenten rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn.

"Good morning, Hinata. Shikamaru, should we leave soon?" Tenten got out of her sleeping bag and leaned on her right leg. Her eyes squinted as she tried to hurriedly get used to the light. She checked her buns for any sign of bed head. The buns were still in their tight coil and she let out a relieved breath. That was one less thing that she had to worry about.

Kiba, hearing all this noise with sensitive ears, woke up. He yawned loudly, baring his canines at his comrades who spared him a glance as he rose up and stretched. He ran a lazy a hand over his face before pausing. There was a feeling of loss but for the life of him he couldn't place it. Though slightly disoriented from a sleepy brain, he looked around and tried to find the problem. Something wasn't right. Kiba stood and looked around the area where his teammates stood.

"Hai," Shikamaru answered Tenten. "You should start packing–"

"Where's Akamaru?" he interrupted.

All of them looked around their spot. It was strange that Akamaru would leave his master. So strange that it really never occurred to them that the dog nin was missing until Kiba mentioned something. When Kiba and Tenten's guard shifts had ended, Akamaru and Kiba went to sleep next to each other, near the vicinity of Miyu's legs, while Tenten slept near the vicinity of Miyu's head. So where was he?

Kiba looked at Miyu for the first time and his jaw almost hit the floor from what he saw.

"Akamaru…" he said softly.

The one he was referring to was sleeping next to the mission, so soundly that his master's voice didn't even stir him. Miyu draped an arm over Kiba's friend and snuggled deeper into the soft fur. Her hair fell around her and obscured her face completely. This sight stirred a dangerous mix of emotions in the Inuzuka.

Kiba was the alpha dog in his clan since his father was no longer alive and he had proven that to his clan. Though, his mom, as alpha female, took over most of the role, he was still to be respected as an alpha. If a subordinate was not compliant to the alpha's wishes, that subordinate would be punished severely. Unless it was Hana, his big sister, but she was only one of two exceptions.

It was different with Akamaru, too. Kiba saw Akamaru as his friend, his equal, but his mom had told him that that was not the case. The dogs of the Inuzuka followed the members of the clan for two reasons. The first was that it was their decision to follow the clan. The second was because they were, basically, Inuzuka subordinates.

"Akamaru," Kiba called harshly in the tones of an alpha.

This time the great white dog stirred. He raised his head and looked towards his master. Everyone in the camp tensed even more at hearing Kiba's tenor.

Hinata felt very uneasy. She knew that Akamaru might have unconsciously been hurting Kiba, but she'd never really witnessed her friend speak in a tone so unlike the carefree one she was used to.

Tenten could feel the uneasy emotions roll off of Neji's cousin. Even she could tell that this really wasn't the usual Kiba. She just didn't know why he was getting so worked up over this. Was Akamaru not allowed to sleep with whoever he wanted to? Was Kiba that possessive? Or was it something more?

"Akamaru," he repeated.

The dog hesitated, looking back at the sleeping Miyu and then his master as if he was making the hardest decision of his life. Suddenly, Miyu began twitching. All of them visibly tensed, even Akamaru.

For the better part of the night the girl had been fidgety. They thought that it was simply the manner in which she slept, but when they heard whimpers they realized that she was having nightmares. Tenten had tried to wake her up and had received a punch on her arm that was ended up being a bruise–not that Miyu knew for she hadn't woken up. Miyu had quieted for a while before the whimpers and moans began again a bit louder this time. Shikamaru tried to comfort her, but Miyu had pushed him away harshly resulting in him almost being pushed back into the glowing embers of their dying fire. He righted himself with the help of Tenten and glanced at Miyu who was still asleep and caught up the nightmare. After that, no one tried to wake her up, no matter how much they wanted to, and simply let her sleep.

Hitoshi, who had been up in a branch for the night, had laughed hysterically after each attempt as he watched over Miyu. After Shikamaru was pushed over he finally offered some words of advice. " 'ought t'stop 'less ya want t'lose an eye". After that warning he stifled most of his laughter and it eventually died. He sat there in a stiff position as the first group–Shikamaru and Hinata–slept beside his summoner. The rest of the night had been strangely silent since Hitoshi had nothing to laugh about anymore and apparently had nothing to say except "G'night."

Now the bluebird was silent with a heavy air around him that was almost visible.

Akamaru surprised everyone by not returning to Kiba. Instead, he stood up and used his muzzle to push against Miyu's stomach in an attempt to shake her awake.

Kiba's knuckles turned white as his fist tightened. He couldn't believe that Akamaru had just ignored him. Where was his loyalty? To that girl? Or to him-his master, his best friend?

Hinata walked over and put her hand atop his rigid shoulder in an attempt to soothe him, to show him that it was okay. He relaxed but still kept a trained eye on Akamaru.

Tenten and Shikamaru shared a look before schooling their features. The whimpering stopped.

Miyu could feel something cold press into her stomach and she tried to swat it away, but when something rough and wet licked her face, followed by the unmistakable smell of dog breath, she opened her eyes. She raised a hand to scratch Akamaru behind the ears.

She stood up gracefully and rolled up her sleeping bag without any words. After that was done she sat down, unbothered by the dew upon the grass or the cold, damp ground. She crossed her legs and, sketchbook and pencil in hand, began to draw.

Last night, Miyu had requested that they all get a good night's rest before any advancement or plans were made. She had been tired, that was evident to the shinobi so they complied. What she hadn't said was that she really didn't know how to tell them about what Hitoshi–kun had told her. It was something that was difficult for her to wrap her mind around and really needed the night to think and rest.

Hinata dropped her hand from her friend's shoulder.

"A-are you okay? Miyu–san? It looked like you were having nightmares for most of the night."

Miyu shook her head, her gaze never leaving her paper. "It is of no consequence to you."

There was something in they way she replied–an undertone–that made them want to shut their mouths for good. Except, the new team was the only one.

"Oi, Miyu–hime. Did y'know ya got nasty case of bed head? Ya look like a new bor' chick. Fedders stickin' up e'ry which way. " He squawked hysterically as he gestured at Miyu's head with his wing.

Miyu shot him a mock glare and stopped sketching long enough to run her fingers through her hair. After a couple of passes it was smooth and perfect. No one spoke for a long while because they thought that she'd be the one to start the conversation since she was the only one besides the bird who really knew what was going on. When Miyu and her summon didn't say anything, the shinobi grew antsy.

"So are you going to tell us what's going on or what?" Tenten quipped.

A loud, exhausted sigh escaped cherry lips. She flipped the page.

The team was met with no answer. Feelings of annoyance rose up in each of them. Hitoshi sensed this and puffed out his chest, also sort of annoyed with his summoner. Why wouldn't she just get to the point?

"Hitoshi–kun?" Miyu asked suddenly, not looking at him.

"Ay, Miyu–hime?"

"Confirm that there is no doubt in your mind about what you have witnessed." There was no emotion in her tone. It all sounded diplomatic and made it hard to try and figure out what she was thinking. But this had probably been its purpose in the first place. She flipped the page and moved the pencil gracefully across the white sheet.

Hitoshi squawked. "Ay's ain't lyin' Miyu–hime. It's the barest truth. Spot'ed that symbol clear as day as it was."

Miyu didn't acknowledge him as she flipped the page and put pencil to paper again.

Tenten couldn't stand it. She had to ask. "Miyu–san, what are you doing?" Her face showed that she was thoroughly confused as to why in the world this little girl would get up at six in the morning, after some apparently disturbing news, and start drawing. It confused all of the shinobi, but Hinata and Shikamaru didn't really feel the need to say anything about it. And Kiba…Kiba didn't want to talk to her right now. Akamaru had, almost reluctantly, gone back to his master and was sitting at his feet just staring at Miyu.

"I am sketching."

"Yes, I see that, but why? What are you sketching?"

She didn't answer.

"You said you had something important to discuss, Miyu–san," Shikamaru interjected.

Again there was no answer and both Shikamaru and Kiba were getting uncomfortable. The sun was higher now and filtered through the leaves with little difficulty. Miyu was lit aglow by the purest rays of light. She was almost Godly in their eyes. So much so, that even Kiba had forgotten those feelings of betrayal and had settled in a sort of peaceful trance.

He'd always been one to appreciate a good looking woman. But this was unlike anything that he had ever seen before and it captured him, refusing to let him look away.

There was a different reaction among the girls. Feelings of jealousy arose at the manner of grace and sophistication in which their mission conducted herself. Now, Hinata was graceful, but not that graceful. She was jealous at the look in both of her comrades eyes that refused to look away from her. Why wouldn't they look at her like that? Was she not pretty enough? Is that why Naruto–kun never noticed her?

Tenten was jealous about all the attention Miyu was bringing to herself–whether she knew it or not. And she absolutely hated just how graceful this girl was. Everything she did was graceful. Hell, this girl even fell gracefully. There was a deep longing feeling inside of Tenten. She couldn't describe it, but it was strong and threatened to overtake her.

"Miyu–hime," Hitoshi said softly, looking down at her almost sympathetically, unaffected by whatever power held the shinobi. "Don't beat 'round t'bush. Ain't purty but ya gots to tell 'em."

There was a change in the body guards' manner that really spooked him and made him want to get that troublesome subject out of the way. The girls looked almost jealous and the guys well…a monkey on a unicycle breathing fireballs wouldn't have distracted them. Hitoshi knew those looks. He knew them well…and he didn't like them.

Sharply, yet somehow gracefully–much to Tenten's annoyance–Miyu stood up. Her voice was filled with so much venom that it chilled all of the shinobi's spines and shook them out of their strong daze.

"Hitoshi. You know of how tightly I am bound. Would you really want me to subdue to the consequences should I slip? You have your place. Keep it."

As soon as the words were out she regretted them. Regretted them with every fiber of her being. But there was no way she could take them back. It really wasn't Hitoshi's fault that the situation was one that she would have killed to avoid. But she couldn't help snapping at the one who knew just what she was going through, yet acted like it was nothing. She also knew that the anger was unnecessary, but she couldn't keep it down. It stirred inside her and required all her focus and all her energy to repress it. She knew what it was that made her act like this and it scared her. However, she put on a strong front. Not for the shinobi's sake, but for herself.

A quiver ran through her soul as she took in the bluebirds' shamed face from her reprimand. He knew she'd tell them, but he also knew that it wouldn't be easy. He was just trying to help and here she was, being a spoiled brat.

" 'menasai, Miyu–hime. I'll keep m'place."

Miyu nodded, dejectedly, and turned towards the curious looks of her bodyguards who seemed to come out of their trance. She held her sketchbook across her chest, her arms crossed to keep it in place.

"It is difficult to conjure the words to express the direness of the situation presented to us."

Hinata and Tenten's gaze landed on Kiba and Shikamaru who had not fully come out of their trance as they continued staring at Miyu with reverence. Tenten walked up to both of them, grabbed the front of their shirts and shook them back and forth dynamically.

The sudden explosion of Hitoshi's laugher ended the tense atmosphere. The bluebird's hold on the tree branch slacked as his chortles overtook him from the sight.

"S-s-s-s-sto-o-o-o-op, Te-en-te-en," they both tried to say as their heads lolled back and forth at a rapid pace. Tenten let them go and gave them an innocent smile.

"What was that for?" Kiba shouted in mock rage as he rubbed his chest. He wasn't angry, but rather relieved that he hadn't been flung into the woods from the vigorous attack. However, the fact that an oversized bluebird was laughing at him didn't make him feel any better.

Shikamaru regarded Tenten with calculating eyes. _Why were all women the exact image of my mom? Are all of them prone to violent moodswings or is it just the ones I was surrounded by on a daily bases? And why, Kami why, do they all have to resort to brutality?_ he asked himself. He was willing to bet that civilian women were a lot less troublesome than these quick tempered kunoichi.

"I bet ya got your 'ands ful wit this one," Hitoshi commented gayly to no one in particular as his laughter went away.

Tenten wiped her hands clean and walked back to her spot next to a shocked Hinata with a bit more sway in her hips. She shot the bird a wink before addressing the two males.

"Just making sure that you're paying attention. Besides, I wouldn't want you to drown in a pool of your own saliva," she said lightly.

Both of the males put a hand to their mouths only to find the tiniest sliver of saliva. Displeased from Tenten's haughty yet candid answer Kiba resoluted to cross his arms and glare at the young kunoichi. Shikamaru, though displeased as well, really didn't want to waste his time in a one way staring contest. He leaned up against a tree instead and decided to pointedly ignore the pleased kunoichi.

Hinata put a hand up to her face in an embarrassed fashion for the two young men who had been caught gazing longingly at Miyu. Well, at least they could now focus on the topic at hand, she thought. The playful atmostphere dissipated into an austere manner.

"Hitoshi–san said something about a trap," Tenten kicked off the conversation with a topic that she'd been turning over and over in her mind since last night.

"Yes. I suppose I should start there." She looked towards the shadows of the forest just behind Hinata, not really seeing anything important. She refused to meet their eyes. "The trap set up by my pursuers is an ancient trap that none should be familiar with. I banned it long ago, when I was still considered a shinobi."

"Wait," Tenten requested. Already, in those two sentences were a couple of holes that led to a couple of questions. She could tell that this was going to be a long morning. "What do you mean you banned it long ago?"

"How old are you, Miyu–san?" Shikamaru interjected.

"That is a difficult question to answer. Though, technically, I am twenty–three years of age."

The team almost fell over at what she just implied and the serious atmosphere was replaced with overwhelming shock.

_She's twenty–three?_ Hinata thought dubiously. Miyu looked so young that it was so hard to believe that she exceeded all their ages.

Kiba's thoughts were a bit more unrefined and a bit cruder than Hinata's as he counted the age difference between them.

Shikamaru actually stopped thinking for three whole seconds entirely, due to shock.

Tenten's mouth was wide and mirrored the face of disbelief on everyone's face.

Hitoshi found the response to his masters' statment extremely hilarious as he squawked his laughter. His purchase on the tree limb had been loosened from the previous fit he had and the current one he was experiencing now. He fell to the ground with a thud and rolled about uncontrollably as he tried to calm himself down. Miyu nudged his plump body with her foot, silently telling him that he should shut up. He did so, very slowly.

As soon as his laughter ebbed away enough for her voice to be heard, she spoke.

"I know that the truth is shocking. It usually is." She chuckled bitterly, seeming to remember a bitter memory before that stoic mask appeared again. "I appeal for silence on this matter until we reach Sunagakure." There was no sound or movement from any of the shinobi.

Of course, she understood. She knew that she looked like a kid, and sounded like one too. It would actually be shocking if everyone acted like it was nothing instead of waiting to collect flies in their mouths.

"Um…" Tenten tried to form her thoughts into words. "Are you joking?"

Miyu shook her head. "Nay. My words are no cruel jest. Please, could you all not ask? At least until Sunagakure. I may be able to explain it then. Hopefully."

They shook their heads, trying to get rid of the shock. The sound of her child-like voice, coupled with the new knowledge that she was twenty–three was not easy to wrap their minds around so quickly.

"What is this trap?" Hinata asked, happy to change the subject. "Why was it banned?"

Hitoshi recollected himself and regained his purchase on a branch above Miyu's head.

Miyu sighed. "This trap, once it is set, has no safe way of deactivation. I created it." Her jaw set and her eyes sharpened. "The reason for banishment was because…there was an incident. A small boy and his father playing upon the sand dunes, near where my trap was placed. They set it off and…I could not save them." She closed her eye. "It is not a memory I wish to relieve."

All pleasentries were forgotten as a heavy air settled around the campsite that not even the calming breeze could carry away. It was strange to see this girl so depressed. Hinata, no longer feeling bitter or insecure, wanted to comfort her. But there were matters to attend to.

"What does this trap do exactly? How did they activate it? Trip wire?" Tenten asked.

Miyu had still not opened her eyes. "It is activated by merely stepping inside its range. This trap uses a certain symbol that has to be written in blood around an area. However, the symbol can be written on the back of a leaf, a nest, or a simple twig for the trap to work. There are two brands of this trap. One will result in an inescapable vortex of fire. The other one will launch a variety of weapons at the penetrator."

They took a moment for this to sink in.

Tenten looked pensive. "Can't you tell which one is being used?"

Miyu shook her head and opened her eye to look at her. "It would not matter if I could. Though, if I found a symbol I may be able to characterize it. However, searching for a symbol would waste much needed time and energy. As I have said, the symbol could be written on any type of matter, including a small blade of grass and it would still pose a great threat."

"There aren't any trip wires?" Tenten wanted clarified.

"No. The symbol written in blood can sense if it is a human life entering the field and will immediately activate within two seconds. It is undetectable and extremely deadly."

"It was designed to kill and leave no survivors," the team leader stated.

Miyu's face scrunched up in guilt. "Yes. That was also the reason I had it banned and all evidence of its creation destroyed."

Kiba stepped forward, having formed his own thoughts while listening to their Q&A.

"If it was banned and all the evidence was destroyed, then why is it posing a problem right now? Who are those guys waiting to ambush us?"

"There is a man among the five monsters with whom I was…acquainted. I never taught him how to use Fusen Bakuden (1) or Arashi no Kaben (2), but…he had always been a fast learner. My only guess was that he somehow figured out how I conducted it and replicated it."

"As for the other men," she continued. "I have…worked with all of them at least one moment in time, all but one." She took a breath. "I must now ask for something rather difficult."

"What about this mission so far made you think we'd expect anything less than troublesome?"

Miyu's mouth lifted up into a small smile, and quickly set back into a tight line.

"After the trap, there is no doubt that we will ensue in a combat situation to bypass the ambush." She paused to let them understand that there was really no way out of this. "These men are dangerous. I need to know if you are ready to die."

* * *

"Dammit!" Kankuro's fist hit the Kazekage's table. "Where in the world are they hiding?"

Gaara looked at his furious brother. "Could it be that we're looking in the wrong place?"

Kankuro's dark eyes glanced up before looking down at the various blueprints of Suna's city that were strewn across Gaara's desk.

"What do you mean? There is no other place they could be. If they're grabbing several civilians every few weeks in all hours of the day, they'd have to know everything about the civilian faction–and what better way to know your surroundings than by living there?"

Gaara nodded. "Yes, but what if they're not in the concentrated area of town? What if they're in an isolated area to avoid detection?"

Kankuro was leaning over the desk, covering almost half of it with his bulky, muscular body. The sun was bright and, though early in the morning, the temperature was starting to heat up slowly. The room was lit up, but the faces occupying it were grim.

They were in silence in regard to Gaara's question as they contemplated all options.

"Wouldn't living in an isolated area be sort of suspicious?" Kankuro asked. "They want to avoid being detected because if they're found out we'd be on them faster than they could blink."

"But they're arrogant," Temari added as she stepped inside Gaara's office. She had finished her shift on the city walls and decided to pay her younger brothers a visit when she overheard their conversation. They'd been so absorbed in their research that they hadn't even sensed her approach.

"Yes." Gaara nodded, his face drawn with worry. "Grabbing civilians in broad daylight is very arrogant."

"Maybe they're doing it because they know that you have stationed ANBU and Jonin there to watch over the civilians. They want us to feel inferior." Kankuro frowned.

Temari rested her hands on her hips. "Or show that they're superior."

Gaara stood up from his comfortable chair and walked around to lean up against the front of his desk with his arms crossed.

"Last night, around eleven, another kidnapping ensued," he filled in Temari who stiffened. "I sent a team to search the site and five hours later, they still could not tell me how exactly the intruders got in and got out with a victim." Gaara's eyes blazed in anger. He tightened his fists but kept his voice level–well, as level as the situation allowed. "Kankuro and I have been looking at the site from the blueprints of Suna's civilian faction and have found four possible sights for holding such a large number these civilians.

"Unfortunately," Kankuro delivered the bad news. "None of those holdings held any people. Three teams were sent to stay and search every centimeter of each building but so far nothing's come up. They'll send someone if they do find something."

"For now we're just going to ponder on their location, then?" Temari asked.

"Yes. Until Miyu returns this is all we can do." Gaara walked back over to his seat and stared at the blueprints, willing them to make sense.

Geez, he's appointed Kazekage and of course something like this has to happen. Kami wasn't on his side at birth and Gaara would be an idiot to expect help now that he was older. This whole thing grated on his nerves. After the whole Akatsuki kidnapping, he thought that was going to be the last of Suna's big problems. Akatsuki got what they wanted and have left them well enough alone since then. But this new threat…what in the world were they searching for? And in the civilian part of the city? What could possibly drag them there?

"Have you had people search some of the old warehouses?" Temari asked, glancing over the blueprints.

There were a couple of red X's through some buildings, but Temari couldn't read the names.

"Yeah," Kankuro grunted as he stared at the desk. "Those were some of the first places we checked out, but there's no way someone could live there. Some of the buildings have large gaping holes on the side of them and are scheduled for demolition in a few days. We had them checked out as well as we could but it was too dangerous."

Temari copied her siblings' frowns. "Miyu's scheduled to arrive sometime today, correct?"

The red head nodded. The brunette with purple face paint looked up.

"Shouldn't we send somebody to receive them? I mean, Miyu's return is our top priority."

Gaara contemplated his brother's words. Yes, her safe return was a very high priority. About two days ago, Gaara had received a letter from the Hokage that she had a team escorting her back as he read. However, what bothered him was the fact that the team was comprised of Chunin. Not even a single Jonin. Shikamaru's name had comforted him slightly as did the Hyuga's, but there should have at least been a Jonin accompanying them.

"Temari, Kankuro." His siblings stood at attention. "You two, along with Matsuri and Rikujo Takeshi will find them and escort them to Suna safely. Two ANBU, a Jonin and a Chunin with her skill will be enough."

Before they could even agree, a man stepped into the office. What startled and comforted the Kazekage was the way the man didn't seem to find him intimidating as he entered with a high head. When most shinobi, with the exception of his siblings and Baki, his original sensei, would cower and stutter in fear, this man didn't. It was Rikujo Takeshi, the ANBU that he had previously mentioned. He was an extraordinary ninja who came from a well known family in Suna. But what had also startled Gaara, was the fact that Takeshi was not wearing his ANBU mask. He was in standard Jonin wear and wore an unreadable expression.

"Forgive me for intruding, Kazekage–sama. There's something that you need to see."

* * *

Kankuro, Temari, Gaara and the ANBU Takeshi, were standing on top of the Kage tower. From up there, the desert seemed almost endless. There was nothing but sand that went on for miles. Gaara often found the sight remarkable. He had seen oceans before, on some of his missions outside of Suna, but the deep blue of the ocean just couldn't compare to the various earthy tones of the sand. There were a lot of reds, browns, yellows, brilliant flashes of white and on occasions–if one had been staring at the sun too long–there'd be flecks of green and purple embedded into the landscape. There would be many times when Gaara would come up here just to relax and enjoy the beauty which was Suna.

Currently, those thoughts were shoved aside as he looked through one of Suna's most powerful telescope that had been set up on the landing. The ANBU pointed it into the direction that he wanted his Kazekage to look at.

"Do you see it?" he asked.

Kankuro and Temari looked at each other with curious expressions and looked towards the same direction that Gaara looked at. They didn't see a thing.

"Rikujo–san, you will accompany my siblings towards that location. Kankuro, Temari, you have no time to search for Matsuri. Bring Miyu–san back safely. Understood?"

Sensing the urgency in his tone they gave a quick nod and launched off the roof onto the next one below. They were flashes of black as they quickly advanced towards Suna's city walls.

Gaara looked into the direction that the telescope had been previously and he frowned. He couldn't see with his eyes what he had seen with the telescope, but that was the least of his worries. The direction that the rapidly formed team was heading towards was in the vicinity of one of Konoha's marked paths that lead towards the desert, towards Suna.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Well…hehe. Sorry for not updating soon. Haven't been feeling well…I get sick a lot which really sucks. But I hope that you've been enjoying this story. It's a little strange in the beginning with the characters being…out of character but there is a totally legit reason for it, so don't hold it against me. **

**BTW: I reread this chapter like three times and tried to find any grammar mistakes and I've revised it a lot, so I hope that there are no mistakes but if there are, I apologize. **

**Action scene is coming up and I can't wait to write it. **

**I really do hope that you're enjoying the story so far and I'd love to hear any and all criticisms or commendations that you guys have. Or opinions, I enjoy opinions. **

**Anywho, that's pretty much all I wanted to say. So…until the next chapter!**

**R&R**

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=] **


	6. Kurokuro

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

**Oh, and in the last chapter I forgot the little footnotes. So here they are. **

**1) Fusen Bakuden – **_fire balloon_**.** This was the trap that created a large sphere of fire.

**2) Arashi no Kaben – **_storm of petals._ This one was the one that launched a variety of weapons.

Anyways, enjoy.

* * *

**Kuro-kuro**

Miyu walked calmly through the forest. The air was beginning to grow stuffy but the cool breeze flowing around her kept her from overheating. She looked ahead, a bit sadly. The trees were scarcer now. With fewer leaves in the way the vast desert was very visible. Its sandy plains seemed foreboding in a way. For miles, even from where she was, all that could be seen was sand…sand…and more sand. She knew that this was not all there was in the country of wind, but the drab landscape just served to darken her mood all the more.

Above her flew Hitoshi–kun. She looked upwards to give him a brief nod. He returned it and flew towards the right, among the trees until he couldn't be seen.

As she neared the line dividing Kaze no Kuni from Hi no Kuni a deep anger settled in the pit of her stomach. But she kept it down. All her energy was currently focused on creating a flawless poker face. There was no way that she was going to let _them_ get the better of her. Her pride and dignity were at stake here–and to a belittled extent, her life.

She had let her attention drift for the merest of moments and snapped back to find herself just a few inches from the line. Her body stopped a few centimeters before crossing.

In the eerie silence surrounding her immediate area, she called out in her child-like voice, "Do not keep me waiting. As you know, I am not a patient person."

She sensed someone underneath her and as soon as they broke the surface of the ground she had jumped–far above her attacker–and landed quietly behind him. Her foot pushed his large back and he went flying with a surprised grunt twenty feet from where she stood. His rough landing created a small dust storm that cleared up to reveal four tall figures standing a safe distance from her.

A rough laugh sounded harshly in the silent, tense atmosphere.

"You still have those killer reflexes, huh, Miyu–hime?" The voice was arrogant, young and condescending.

"I have not faltered in my training, Kai. Can the same be said for you?" she answered in a cool voice.

She was determined to keep up a stoic face. She desperately wanted to. But as soon as the dust completely cleared and his face became visible, that simmering anger flared into her eyes, lighting them the color of red fire. With practice only achieved through years, she kept the anger down, only allowing it to show in her eyes.

When he laughed again she saw a gleam of white teeth so similar in hue to his skin tone. Kai's(1) slim body stood out like a sore thumb among the sandy desert of brown and yellow. He wore a black mesh shirt underneath a purple vest with a pair of black pants and a purple sash tied around his waist. His orange hair stood up on end and fluttered lightly in the breeze. He had a handsome face but a crooked nose, as if he had suffered from a poorly repaired broken nose. Sharp blue eyes kept an eye on Miyu as if willing themselves to look through her. She straightened her already linear posture.

"Oh, Miyu–hime. How I've missed your company. It's good to see you again. I feel an incredible sense of nostalgia from all our fun times together."

Miyu resisted the urge to gag. "The atmosphere is more disdain than anything else."

He smiled. "See you haven't lost that dry sense of humor."

"And I see that you haven't been keeping up with their training." Her eye settled on the man who was struggling to get up from the crater created by his body.

"Oh, him." Kai glanced at his teammate and back at Miyu. "You know he's always the first to fight…at least some of the times." She didn't like the way he said that, but before she could tell him that she'd changed–that she wasn't the person he thought he knew– he continued on his way down memory lane. "We've all missed you back in the lab. Isn't that right, Daiki?"

The man he nodded towards smiled. He had a large build and tan rippling muscles that contrasted almost comically–definitely handsomely–with his baby face. He had nice soft brown hair in a bit of a messy mop on his head and soft brown eyes. He wore a formfitting blue shirt that showed off the results of some serious training, along with a pair of dark blue capris.

"He's right, Miyu–hime. It hasn't been the same without you," said Daiki(2), with a soft voice but a mocking undertone.

"Please excuse the fact that I feel no remorse," she deadpanned.

Kai sighed. "Again with that humor." He chuckled darkly. By now, the man that she had flung without much effort on her part was standing up alongside his other companions looking defeated. She remembered him. It was Jun(3). He was actually rather short compared to his group, but he had a speed that could almost rival hers. Almost. He carried a katana on his back, and keeping his long platinum blond hair together in a bun atop his head were two senbon that glinted dangerously in the sunlight. He wore clothes similar to Kiba's form fitting jacket and pants, but they were colored an aged white with dust straight down the front. It gave him the appearance of a homeless man, Miyu thought.

"Miyu–hime," spoke a man twice her age. This was Norio(4), she noted. His short hair was almost completely covered in grayish tones, signaling his age. But in the light of the sun bits of black hair were illuminated, giving her a glimpse of someone he used to be. He wore a traditional kimono(5) the color of olives. His voice was deep and gravelly. "Will you not come back quietly? It is pointless to put up a fight."

This time Miyu couldn't stop her emotions from flowing out. She laughed a magical laugh that enthralled the group in front of her for a moment.

"Are you afraid that you will be defeated and have to soothe your large male egos underneath the earth where no one will see your shame?" she laughed the question.

Keeping their chakra signatures cloaked, Miyu's bodyguards were spread throughout the trees. They were at a safe range from where she stood, and were able to hear the conversation clearly. Tenten was a bit farther away from Miyu, seeing as how she was a mid to long–range fighter. But even she could hear the hysterical note in Miyu's entrancing voice. What she said had made absolutely no sense, and Tenten pondered for a brief moment what happened to the cool façade she was supposed to be presenting.

"You should come back with us," said Norio, a hint of despair in his gravelly tone. "You won't be able to keep it together, Miyu–hime. With all due respect, come with us and we'll help you suppress it."

Miyu had gained control of her emotions once again and fixed her shoulders back. The air of authority surrounding her was not lost on the enemy.

"None will dictate my actions," she stated harshly.

Seeing all of them together had strained the barriers of memories she sealed long ago. The way they acted so familiar with her was infuriating and she wanted nothing more than to shove her fists in their faces and push them far, far away to a place where she didn't have to look at them. But there was something that she had to do. It was the only reason she had even allowed herself to be seen.

"I guess you don't want to do this the easy way," Kai said lightly. "Not that anything was ever easy with you," he mused. Quickly, he formed handseals and struck his palm to the sand.

"Doton: Yomi Numa(6)," he exclaimed.

Tenten watched as the ground surrounding Miyu become a large pool of mud. Hot steam rose from it and Tenten knew that if Miyu didn't get away she'd be sucked in and would never be able to get out again. She wanted to jump out and wrap a chain link around the small woman to haul her back towards good ground, but she knew she had to stay still. So she watched.

Miyu took two steps forward and was now standing on top of the steamy swamp. She giggled.

"Kai, you will have to do much better than that if you want to catch me."

This time Daiki, the baby faced man, struck his palms to the ground, "Suiton: Suishi no jutsu(7)."

Muddy water sprang up from almost every possible angle towards Miyu. Its sharp points were going to cut into her, Hinata thought desperately from her spot on a high tree branch. Her Byakugan was activated and she saw everything in vivid detail compared to the limited view of her companions.

Before the spiraling water could hit her, Miyu began twirling at a rapid speed. There was a wall of wind, almost like a tornado, around her that allowed the water to travel its path. It flung the thick water pillars back at Daiki, who quickly jumped out of the way.

Just as her speed slowed down, Hinata wanted to yell out, to warn her. While she had been twirling, both Jun and Norio had come around her with chain links. She was almost to a full stop when they struck. They both hurled the chain links around her and managed to capture her by surprise as the metal wrapped around her small body, pinning her arms to her side.

Akamaru held back a loud whine. Kiba's teeth gritted as he got a feel of the enemy's chakra from Akamaru's twitching tail and pawing foot.

"Gotcha!" Jun yelled, clearly glad that he had been able to get her back for the kick that sent him sprawling on the ground in front of his teammates.

The Konoha shinobi tensed as they watched Miyu encased in silver. Because of the height of the two men holding the chains she had been lifted off of the muddy swamp and was now suspended in the air.

Tenten glanced at Shikamaru and willed him to look back at her. He did, sensing someone looking at him from behind. His dark eyes met Tenten's and he bit back a shiver. The feral look in her eyes told him that she was just itching for a fight. _Women_, he thought. _Always wanting to fight and never thinking things through_. He shook his head once, telling her silently _not yet_. Shikamaru kept a diligent eye on the happenings before him, studiously recording every little twitch of muscles in his large catalog of memory.

Tenten's coffee eyes narrowed in frustration but she complied. Tenten enjoyed the thrill of a fight, but waiting for one to happen was really grating on her nerves. She was not alone in this. Kiba fisted his hands until his knuckles were almost completely white from the strain. He too wanted to fight, but that wasn't what they'd agreed on–much to Kiba's dismay.

Three men stepped forward, Daiki, Kai, and one that had been silent and unmoving ever since the start of this little skirmish. The silent man had a simple white mask on that hid his entire face impeccably well. Kai held a wide smirk.

"Now Miyu–hime. I just wanted you to listen to me. Now that I have your attention…" he paused dramatically.

Miyu pushed against the chains, but something was wrong. She could feel herself growing fatigued every time she struggled. Her surprise was contained effectively as her face remained impassive. _Why that despicable man! The chains are extricating chakra from me at the least sign of resistance_. She remained impossibly still from her quick deduction.

"I see you've figured it out," commented Jun arrogantly as he saw her body grow stiff.

"I am intelligent enough to notice danger beforehand," she retorted. This caused Jun to tighten his hold on the chain to bring her pain. Yet, as the metal dug into her arm she felt nothing.

"Down, Jun. I don't want to hurt her," Norio chastised, loosening his hold slightly in an effort to bring her comfort.

Tenten got the feeling that the eldest man held a bit of a soft spot for the girl. Maybe they'd be able to use that to their advantage if they ever caught him.

"Oh, it's not hurting her Norio," Daiki commented with a knowing smile. He flipped away some of the damp brown hair that stuck to his forehead. They must have been waiting for a while if he was already gaining sweat on his brow, Shikamaru noted. "She's stronger than that, remember?"

Kai interrupted. "Miyu–hime." He applied chakra to his feet, as did the silent man behind him, and walked over the muddy swamp towards her. Even up in the air she was still small than him. "What happened to your friends?"

There was a mocking tone to his words that irked the red haired woman more than his stupid, arrogant smirk.

"They burned in the fire," she answered stoically.

"Tsk–tsk. Don't lie to me Miyu–hime. Where did you stash them?"

"Believe what you wish, you incompetent man. Are you really nothing without Aki?"

This seemed to strike a deep nerve in the man as his smirk faded and his face grew deadly.

Akamaru cringed and felt like shaking in his spot beside Kiba at the deadly aura emanating from the man. Kiba's fists tightened as he waited in anticipation for his action.

"You will say nothing about her," he warned as he moved his face closer to hers until Kai was the only thing she saw. "I'm not incompetent as you so eloquently put it. I put into plan the motion to capture you, and it succeeded." His smirk returned.

But this time, Miyu's cherry lips turned into a full out smile.

"Do you truly believe that?" A puff of smoke appeared from Miyu's place within the metal binding. In a second, the chain fell into the swamp with a watery _plop!_ Miyu was nowhere to be seen.

"Kuso," Kai hissed.

Shikamaru gave the signal. With the smoke still clouding their vision none couldn't have seen Kiba coming at such breakneck speed.

"Gatsuga(8)!" he cried as both he and Akamaru attacked the opponent called Norio.

Tenten's heart palpitated rapidly, not in fear, in excitement for the much anticipated fight. She jumped out and quickly unlatched her weapons' scroll. In a flash, the front was facing her opponent, Jun, and she hurled a massive amount of weaponry, mostly consisting of kunai and shuriken, at the unsuspecting man.

Kiba and Akamaru managed to drive their opponent away from his companions to fight him one on one.

"C'mon old man, you gonna go down that easily?"

The man was on the ground, his appearance unruffled from easily, though a bit clumsily, dodging Kiba's attack. He stood up to face Kiba with an almost pained expression.

"My fight isn't with you," he pleaded.

Kiba felt a bit insulted. "Are you saying I'm not good enough to fight?" Akamaru growled in protest.

Norio shook his head in a manner that one would reproach a child. "You are young and naïve. You wouldn't stand a chance against someone as practiced as me."

A feral growl tore through Kiba's parted lips and then they curled into a smile.

"Allow me to prove you wrong. Shikyaku no jutsu(9)."

Inuzuka's were wild looking humans with–some would argue–more characteristics of an animal than human. Their taijutsu was certainly adapted to this aspect of their persona. Kiba was down on all fours, along with Akamaru, bright blue chakra swirled around him as the jutsu completed. His fangs grew larger and his nails began to resemble claws. The untamed look in his eyes changed into bloodlust.

Tenten's look was similar as she watched Jun unsheathe his katana with such speed that all she saw was a flash of white light as he blocked the innumerable amount of weapons fired at him. He dodged and blocked them all without a scratch or even breaking a sweat.

"Pretty good," Tenten admired after the onslaught was done. No one but Neji had been able to block every single one of her attacks so well, and this guy didn't even use chakra for it.

"Wish I could say the same for you."

Her coffee eyes narrowed at his sarcastic reply.

"Look, why don't you go home and cook or something? The battlefield's no place for a girl like you."

A vein appeared ominously on her forehead as she gave Jun the most deadly glare of her life. No one, not even Shikamaru, the most chauvinistic boy she had ever met, dared to tell Tenten that she didn't belong on the battlefield. This man was going to regret ever messing with her.

"It's also no place for someone who gets knocked out so easily by a girl a foot shorter than him." She watched his face scrunch up in annoyance but otherwise didn't acknowledge her statement. "What? You don't remember when Miyu–san stuck her size four shoe in your back and sent you flying until your face was parallel to the ground?"

She heard the familiar sound of ringing metal before she saw their location. Acting out of pure instinct, she pulled out a kunai to protect herself. She managed to deflect two kunai but there had been others in their shadow and they managed to scrape the sides of her loose clothing. _He must be exceptional_, she thought, _if he was able to throw concealed weapons at me without my notice._

"You better shut up before I show you what a real weapon's master looks like," he warned.

"Are they all as short as you?"

With his katana at the ready, he lunged at her, barely allowing her time to retrieve her own weapon.

Hinata saw Daiki walk calmly towards where Kiba was attacking Norio who–even in his old age–was dodging Kiba's ferocious attacks with ease. His hands came up in almost slow motion as they prepared to form handseals. Hinata jumped down and ran towards her oblivious teammate, hoping to get there in time.

_Stupid old man_, Kiba thought. How was he able to move so fluidly while Kiba was in his enhanced combat mode? Even with him and Akamaru attacking from above, sideways, his blind spot, his back, and his front they couldn't land a decent hit on the guy.

"Please," the old man tried again. "If you keep pushing I will not hesitate to disable you." He backflipped as Kiba appeared at his feet, ready to claw. While he was in the air, Akamaru jumped up intending to bite his kimono and hurl him towards the ground. The man seemed to sense his attack. Norio held out his arms and flung them from one side to the other. With the momentum he managed to spin his lithe body away from the sharp canines of the great white dog.

"Give it up dog boy," a condescending tone sounded behind Kiba's crouched figure. He turned his head, knowing that Akamaru had his back in case Norio decided to attack, to see who it was. It was Daiki. "If you can't even beat up an old man then you're not cut out for the ninja life." He formed seals too fast for Kiba to read what they were. "I'm doing you a favor, kid."

On the last seal two things happened.

Norio landed on his feet and shouted, "Daiki, not that one!"

And Hinata jumped in front of Kiba. Her foot propelled her forward and her hands were in combat position.

"Juken." A burst of chakra emanated from her palm as she struck a large forearm.

"Hinata!" Kiba shouted. She wasn't supposed to be in the fight!

* * *

With the aid of large wings and sharp hawk-like eyes HHHHhjjdjdjdklklsHhknkjjhhkjkklsdklfitoshi managed to locate three fast moving blurs running across the peak of a very large dune. They were about an hour or so away from where he wanted them so their talk would have to be brief. He squawked to get their attention but they paid him no mind as they continued on their path. Hitoshi's feathers bristled in annoyance.

In the loudest voice he could muster he shouted, "Oi! Don't i'nore me! O' do ya think ya's are!"

The shinobi halted and took up defensive stances as they looked around for whoever addressed them.

Hitoshi's feathers bristled again as they continued to look everywhere but above.

"Oi! Ay's up 'ere bakas!" the large bluebird flew down towards eyelevel.

He saw them reach in their packs for kunai and if he could he would have definitely rolled his eyes at them. It was the weapon's mistress episode all over again.

Before they could throw their weapons he said, "Ay's ain't t'enemy, kiddos."

According to Miyu's instructions, the man he was looking for had on purple face paint. It surprised the bluebird at just how easy it had been to spot him. Even from the sky, the purple on that shinobi's face stood out.

He gestured a wing towards the one with a cat eared hoodie. "Youse Kuro-kuro?"

The black clad shinobi flinched at the name as the two blonds stifled their laughter.

"I take it you know Miyu?"

Hitoshi's feathers bristled again at such obvious disrespect. How dare he address his master in such a familiar way?

"_Miyu–hime_," he enunciated, "ask'd me to find a makeup wearin' shinobi nam'd Kuro-kuro."

"It's Kankuro. Kankuro!" said the purple faced man in annoyance. "And its face paint, not makeup!"

The stifled laugh turned into chortles as the other two shinobi looked on at Kankuro's spat with a large bird.

"Oi," Hitoshi said forcefully to get the shinobi he was addressing to stop their laughter and take him seriously. The sharp tone got their attention as they focused on him. "Miyu–hime and her body guards is in battle kiddos."

"We were sent by the Kazekage to retrieve Miyu–san," Temari informed the strange bird. They were more than ready for a fight. In fact, Temari's fingers twitched in anticipation for one. It was an unfortunate trait that she and her siblings carried: bloodlust. Gaara had it worse thanks to the influence of Shikaku, but considering who their father had been and what he'd done it was really no surprise to learn that all the Sabaku siblings shared the trait.

"Is she okay?" asked Takeshi from behind Temari.

"Ay's ain't sure. But if she continues battl'in she won't be." The bluebird turned around and flapped his wings, creating a small dust storm around the shinobi who covered their eyes to keep the sand out of them. "Don't lag behind, Kuro–kuro."

Kankuro, though aware that the situation they now found themselves in was less than pleasing–depending on how you look at it–managed to groan in exasperation as they all broke into a run behind the large bird.

"It's Kankuro!"

* * *

**A/N:**

**1)** **Kai **– _"blessed", "lucky"_

**2)** **Daiki **– _"great tree"_

**3)** **Jun **– _"obedient"_

**4)** **Norio **– _"man of law"_

**5)** **Kimono **– _loose, wide-sleeved robe fastened at the waist with a wide sash_

**6)** **Doton: Yomi Numa **– _earth release: swamp of the underworld_

**7)** **Suiton: Suishi no jutsu **– _water release: water drowning technique _(like the kind used in Konoha when shinobi are trying to drown a fire)

**8)** **Gatsuga **– _fang over fang_

**9)** **Shikyaku no justu **– _four legs technique_

**Another chapter finito.**

**I let so many things unsaid but I'll clear them up in the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed and I hope there were no grammar mistakes (I triple checked) and that it was a good read.**

**Criticisms and other reviews are welcome, but don't be so harsh if you didn't like my battle scene. It was my first time writing something like that and I still don't know if I like it or not. Besides, it was more like Shikamaru's team was testing the waters with a new enemy, so no major bloody battle…sadly.**

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	7. Meters Away

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

* * *

**Meters Away**

Miyu appeared from her hiding spot behind a very large tree and walked with slow determination towards the tall, lanky man. Kai was staring at the scenes unfolding with a malicious smile and a strange glint in his blue eyes.

"Kai," Miyu called his attention away from the two battles happening on either side of them. Her stance was wide, ready for any sort of attack, but a bit lazy too, as if she had donned this stance many times before and never expected anything to come out of it.

"Ah, Miyu–hime." Kai turned his full attention towards her, looking like he wanted to bore a hole into her forehead. "So you decide to show yourself. To what do I owe the honor?"

Stoically she answered, "I am in your presence for one reason, and one only. Listen well for I do not wish to repeat myself."

Kai swept his pale hands towards her. "Please, go on."

The air was filled with the harsh sounds of metal slicing and ripping through the air as the two weapon wielders faced off and the animalistic cries of the members of the Inuzuka tribe as they feverishly fought their opponent. The atmosphere of both fights was tense, yet filled with wicked excitement. The atmosphere around Miyu and Kai, however, was as calm as the eye of a raging storm.

The young woman pulled her feet together to stand erect before the males.

"You are to release my seal."

Tenten clobbered the small man Jun with her endless supply of weapons to distract him from what was going on meters behind her. The desert provided no sense of coverage for the kunoichi and she knew that if Jun came at her again with his katana she'd have to resort to sword fighting. This was perfectly fine with her. In fact, she loved fighting up close.

It allowed her to watch every slight twitch of her opponents' muscles as they prepared their moves. There was just something about being able to read your opponent like a book that gave the weapon mistress an ultimate high. The other reason she favored close range fighting was because of the swords' melody. Each time her swords would clash against another, the impact sent a chilling melody down to her toes from the tips of her fingertips. It would instill a new bloodlust within her to hear the intoxicating reverberating clang again and again until there was only the clang of the weapon as it clattered tunelessly on the bloody ground.

Through the small dust storm created by her weapons shined a small gleam of white light that enraptured Tenten's interest. It was the harsh sun shining off the blade of Jun's katana.

"You're more trouble than you're worth, little girl."

Tenten smirked. "I'm not called Konoha's weapon mistress for nothing, shorty."

A pregnant pause allowed Tenten the ability to assess her next move. "You're going to regret saying that," Jun said with a deadly tone.

"Come and make me."

If her teammates were here they'd surely berate her for wanting a fight. Actually, Rock Lee and Gai–sensei would most likely condone the spirit of youth burning within the petals of their precious flower, but one person would definitely put her through hell for looking for a challenge. If it was in Neji's character he'd flick her forehead and call her stupid, but the prodigy wasn't so much into touchy feeling things. Instead, he'd call her stupid while comparing her to the hotheads of eternal youth on their team and during their next practice he'd try to teach her a lesson about seeking a challenge while in battle. The next day she'd show up much later to their practice feeling like one of the many practice dummies her team managed to obliterate into space over the years.

She was brought back to the present from the dangerous glint in Jun's eye as he looked at her critically. She couldn't help but to feel a bit shaky under his scurrilous gaze but she wasn't about to let him see that. When he readied his katana there was a sudden burst of chakra from him. It was malicious and deadly. The color of it was like nothing she had ever seen. It was pure black and rolled off of him in thick suffocating waves. The look on his face changed from slight annoyance to that of a monster who just found its favorite meal.

From her scroll she released her own katana and held it at the ready. His chakra dissipated back into his person and she exhaled a small sigh of relief. She focused intently on the small man and felt that bloodlust stir in her again. Before they clashed, she wondered if Shikamaru was done with his part of battle. Then Jun's blocky body came into view and the sweet sounding melody flowed through her, igniting her fighting spirit once more.

Hinata was fighting fearlessly and dangerously with that cocky kid, Daiki. From the very start, Hinata could sense two surefire things about this particular man. One was that she had caught him off guard and he was having a bit of a hard time withdrawing from her relentless attacks. This made her a little happy inside but that feeling was soon replaced with one of slight discomfort. He was looking at her as if he had just found the largest deposit of gems inside her eyes. She was a little afraid that he had.

"Oh," he remarked as he dodged a blow to his liver by gliding backwards on the hot sand. "A Hyuga, huh? You know–" he dodged a large combination of punches and kicks. Hinata's small but powerful foot was rounding about to kick his side while he was still crouching defensively from her earlier attacks. Daiki was apparently no longer off his guard as he caught it smoothly and held it in a vise-like grip. "You look like somebody I once knew. Of course, she was a lot prettier than you."

He threw her foot away from him with a sick grin as he watched Hinata fall and tumble onto the ground with a surprised and pained filled grunt. Sand flew up around her and got caught in her hair and eyes which she quickly wiped. Daiki hadn't moved from his spot as he watched her with a predatory gaze.

"And she was a great fighter. Graceful and strong. The scariest thing ever on the battle field and the best fighter I've ever encountered. Heck, she was even able to defeat Jun on more than one occasion." He looked off toward the direction of Tenten and his comrade, not in the least bit bothered that his opponent was only a few feet away from him.

It was like a slap in the face for Hinata. It said that she wasn't even good enough to acknowledge as an equal in strength. He was treating this as some sort of joke! How could he demean her? She admitted that she may not be the best in her clan when it came to fighting, but she worked hard and deserved some recognition. Especially from an enemy that she was able to catch off guard just a few seconds before.

"Your friend's probably dead by now. Either that or Jun's toying with her. Like a puppet on a string." He looked back at her, a strange feeling rose within her. Her heart almost felt like it was shrinking inside her chest as the baby faced man stared at her with such intensity. She wondered where this dangerous edge had germinated from. He seemed cocky, that much was for sure. But this black aura he was giving the Hyuga heiress was just unreal.

Then he laughed a dark, heavy and sincerely amused laugh.

"Oh, this is priceless. I'm really going to have to thank Miyu–hime immensely for such a wonderfully fearful plaything."

Hinata was paralyzed by his pitch black eyes. Though her body wanted to get up and run and attack him full force once more it just wouldn't obey. All her mind was focused on were his dark pupils that seemed to reach deep into the corners of her mind and invade her senses. She came back for a brief moment when Kiba began shouting her name.

"Hinata! Damn it, Hinata get up! Get up and fight! What would Naruto do?"

Kiba wasn't even paying attention to the old man he was supposed to be fighting because he was so worried about his teammate. If she died here, he'd get hell from Kurenai, the Hyuga clan, and his mother. It was the last mentioned that he feared the most.

Then, a flash of black distracted Daiki enough to draw his eyes away from Hinata's in order to catch the offending weapon. Kiba looked back at the old man he had previously been fighting with an unreadable expression. _Did he just…_

Kiba let the thought go for the moment as he turned back to look for his teammate. Hinata stood up abruptly and jumped back a good few feet. She changed back into a defensive stance should Daiki go on the offensive.

"Norio," Daiki said with exasperation, letting Hinata move back without interfering. "You are the most infuriating man ever! Honestly, old age on you pisses me off. Let me do my thing. It's been _forever_ since I got to use that technique. I mean, Kai said I could use it," he whined.

Hinata was silent as she stood just a foot in front of the Inuzuka. Her body was tense as she waited for the inevitable reprimand.

"Hinata," the feral looking boy hissed low enough so no one else could hear. "I thought we told you to stay away."

Hinata couldn't help but flinch before righting herself. She had directly disobeyed orders, something that she'd never done before.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't leave you to face them alone. You didn't sense him coming, Kiba–kun," she whispered quickly.

Kiba bristled at the reminder. It wasn't his fault that these people had almost no scent attached to their person. If Kiba didn't know any better he'd say that they didn't even exist; their smell was that obsolete. He had to admit that he appreciated his teammate having his back, but he could have handled it. He was an Inuzuka for Kami's sake!

There was no choice now. It wouldn't matter if his teammate retreated because they'd already seen her. If Hinata wished to fight, who was he to stop her?

"We'll talk about this later, Hinata. Remember, we have to buy Shikamaru some time."

Hinata nodded once. "Hai. Don't worry Kiba–kun. It seems things are going smoothly with Shikamaru."

_Although I can't say the same for our situation_, Hinata thought grimly. The moment when Daiki had grabbed her foot had surprised her immensely. Through her aforementioned flurry of attacks she was able to connect her lethal palms to a couple of select spots of his body. At one point she hit both of his forearms, cutting off a major chakra supply line. He shouldn't have been able to move his arms let alone his fingers, yet he caught her foot so easily and confidently that she had begun to second guess her abilities.

Maybe she didn't hit him in the right spot, she thought. Then after a quick deliberation with herself she realized that it was impossible for a Hyuga to miss chakra points. She wasn't a prodigy at this sort of thing but she was pretty good nonetheless. She had seen them and effectively cut them off, so why was he still able to move his limbs freely?

Miyu waited for Kai to patiently answer with uproarious laughter at her request, but none came.

Instead, in a too calm a voice he answered, "Miyu–hime…have you tried to break the seal?"

Unafraid, with a stoic face, she moved closer to him. "Hai. I have. It resulted in a long sleep on my behalf. While it was nice to be able to sleep with no invading dreams, it was rather annoying trying to explain the actions afterwards. Of course, I could also not give adequate information because of the seal." She gave him a pointed look.

Kai's lips coiled up into a malign smile. "You never learn your lessons do you. What makes you think that I will as much as bow in reverence to your _great_ presence?"

"Willingly: only to taunt." She laughed lightly. "You never learn your lessons either, Kai. Have you forgotten about _that_?"

"That?" Kai asked stupidly as if he really had forgotten an important detail.

She held up her blood red hair that covered most of her small ivory face. Kai's face lit up with the forgotten knowledge and he tried to retreat but felt that he no longer had any control of his body.

Shikamaru smirked. His jutsu was quickly put into place while all the distractions that were going on. There was only one thing that really filled him with a sense of pride and that was watching his opponents struggle to free themselves from his shadow based jutsu. It was funny that they should struggle when they really had no chance at breaking free. That is, unless they were like Tayuya. He hoped they weren't.

He couldn't see Miyu's face so he didn't know what she was doing as she revealed her face to this man. Yet, he wondered if it was better to not see. Kai's pompous look faded quickly from his face and was replaced with one that Shikamaru could only describe as complete devotion.

The masked man tried to move since he apparently wasn't under her…power. But Shikamaru didn't let him. He tightened his hold a bit more on his person since Kai was perfectly oblivious to anything but Miyu, just as she had said he would be. The masked man turned his face towards the shadow wielder. Shikamaru got the strange feeling that this man could see through to his soul but he knew that was silly. Still, he kept his trained eyes on him just in case.

"Kai," Miyu said with sweet honey dripping from her voice. It entranced Shikamaru but he had to remind himself that he had a job to do. He had a job to do. It soon turned into a mantra for him as she continued speaking. "Release the first seal. You will do it, will you not?"

He looked like he was in a daze as he dumbly nodded. "I will Miyu–hime."

"Thank you Kai. I knew you would not say no to me."

She moved closer to him and Shikamaru called out to her.

"Miyu–san, are you sure you have it under control?" he let his eyes flicker to the masked man before settling them on her back.

Without turning she answered. "Do not worry Shikamaru–san. You would do well to keep up your end of the plan." He nodded towards her back.

The petite woman stepped forward, her hand letting down her crimson hair to come rest at her side, and stood only a few inches from Kai. His hands became a blur as he formed seals faster than Hatake Kakashi. His pale hand came up slowly and deep orange, almost red, chakra lit his fingers like they were on fire. He pushed his hand onto her stomach roughly. From where he was, the shadow wielder could smell the scent of burning fabric. It looked like it hurt from the rigidness of her entire body, but not once did Miyu cry out.

Kai bit his thumb and it looked like he was dripping the blood onto her face. Shikamaru frowned.

_That's unsanitary. _

He dropped his hand and looked at Miyu again with complete devotion. If Miyu told this guy to jump off a cliff there was no doubt in the genius' mind that Kai would do it with a smile on his face.

Miyu took a few steps back. "Now, you will cancel your assault on us and depart."

Tenten was breathing hard as she just barely managed to block a blow from Jun's katana that was dangerously close to her face. She could feel various parts of her body stinging from the many deep gashes she had received from his katana. This guy was really too damn fast. And if he kept cutting her she would slowly loose a large amount of blood in a surprisingly short period of time.

"You're kind of slow for a weapon's master," he taunted as he came again. She blocked the strike to her calf but was unprepared for the kunai in his other hand. He pushed it into her forearm and she swore that it actually hit her bone. He followed it up with a series of taijutsu attacks combined with his long swinging sword. This didn't unnerve Tenten as much. Her team was very taijutsu oriented so she was able to keep up with him…until he dislocated her shoulder. It was a sharp kick she hadn't seen that sent her flying back. When her shoulder hit the sand it dislocated.

Because, despite popular belief, sand wasn't shifty and loose; it was hard, especially if you hit it when flying at an unprecedented speed. She jumped up, despite the pain, to create a reasonable distance between the two of them. But that Jun was fast. He kicked her abdomen to propel her small body upwards. Tenten tried to think about a way to get out of this situation from midair. She looked around her, expecting Jun to show up beside or behind her to finish her with his katana, but there was no presence anywhere near her.

She entertained a random thought for a brief second. _I'm high up_. A canopy of trees showed up as a green blur in the corner of her eyes but her attention was soon focused elsewhere when a flash of bright light blinded her. She blinked. _Oh, this is bad_. It wasn't that she was surprised to see Jun finally finishing her off. What surprised her was that he was making her wait. Jun was squatted down on the ground, holding his katana, hilt down and blade pointed to the sky.

If she didn't move out of the way his sword was going to go straight through her heart. She reached in her pack for an explosive note. If she could set that off at a reasonable distance the explosion would move her away and allow her to plan an effective counterattack but as soon as she touched the brown pouch her hand stopped moving. There was a tingly feeling on the back of her hands. Chakra strings. He was controlling her movements.

She racked her mind for a way out of this situation but was coming up short. Now that she was aware of one of the strings, she could feel multiple pinpricks all along her arms and legs.

If she couldn't move…she was going to die.

"Just, don't use it," Norio said to Daiki with a hint of desperation.

Daiki sighed. "You are so annoying. Just shut up and let me do my thing."

"If you are wiped out you won't be useful to Kai's plans."

Daiki sighed in exasperation again. "Fine, fine. I'll give this one to you, but the next time we purposely chase them I'm going to use it," he warned lightly as he tossed the weapon Norio had thrown to distract him towards the ground.

"Hey!" Kiba yelled in confusion and exasperation to the old man. "Did you forget that we're your opponents?"

"I have said that don't want to fight you," the old man said quietly.

Daiki laughed. "Oh, that's right. Completely forgot about you guys." An ominous vein appeared on Kiba's forehead. "Sorry, Hyuga. Let's finish this huh? C'mon Norio, help me out here. It'll be like old times."

Norio said nothing. But the grim set of his mouth told the members of team 8 that he was not happy with whatever the baby faced man wanted. Quickly, they formed seals.

At the same time they exclaimed, "Uta no Shinen(1)." But before they could do anything else and before Kiba and Akamaru jumped in to attack them, a commanding voice interrupted them.

"Daiki, Norio, fall back!"

Daiki groaned loudly and flailed his hands in the air, "Damn it! Why does no one ever let me finish!" he pouted and jumped away with a relieved looking Norio behind him.

Tenten was coming down fast and willed her strength to come. She was cutting through his chakra strings one at a time but it was surprisingly hard to cut through his thick chakra. Ten meters. She was closing in fast. Seven meters. Four. Three. Two.

"Jun, fall back!"

One.

She hit the ground rather unceremoniously, having no time to soften her landing. Her head knocked harshly against the hard sand and she saw stars. Everything was disoriented around her and for a second she forgot where she was. There was overwhelming pain in her entire body but how did it get there? It slowly ebbed away as the darkness at the corners of her eyes enclosed.

"Next time, I hope you make it a challenge to defeat you."

That deep voice echoed throughout her head until she felt nothing but darkness.

* * *

**A/N:**

1) _Uta no shinen_ – Song of the abyss (my own made up thing that you'll see in later chapters.

**This was really rather lengthy chapter and I know I didn't get a lot of Tenten in there and I'm kind of sad about that. **

**Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed my first attempt at a fight scene. Hopefully I did a good enough job to where you guys got the gist of it. If I didn't please tell me and I'll see what I can do with the future ones. If you didn't like it at all…sorry. **

**R&R**

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	8. Help Arrives

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

* * *

**Help Arrives**

"Oi! We's back Miyu–hime!" the large blue bird yelled out as he floated down to land upon Miyu's outstretched arm. He looked around, wondering where the enemy was.

"Hey," Temari shouted towards them. Her impromptu team was still on high alert though they didn't see any of the enemies. "You guys okay?"

Shikamaru stood slightly behind Miyu and nodded towards her.

"They're gone," he stated with a bit of anger in his usually idle tone.

"Have you been able to track them?" Kankuro asked, slowing down to a stop alongside his sister and the ANBU.

"Kiba's trying." He nodded towards the yellow desert where the miniaturized form of the Inuzukas was seen moving about. "By the way," he shoved his hands in his pocket, "any of you guys a medic?"

Shikamaru saw a rather tall, unfamiliar man step forward.

"Who's injured?" he asked. He stared pointedly at the blood on Shikamaru's uniform.

The shadow user shook his head. "Not mine. Hinata patched her up enough to clot most of the blood from the lacerations she received to keep her alive until help came. Both of them are over there. She's unconscious." He pointed towards the right where the unconscious figure of Tenten was situated underneath the shade of a tree with a dark haired figure crouched over her. "We were gonna go full speed towards Suna but Miyu–san said that she sent for help and I figured it wouldn't do any good to agitate Tenten's injuries."

The tall man nodded and quickly went to her side not even sparing Miyu a glance, Shikamaru noticed. Now there was a shinobi who was dedicated to their work. But then he grew suspicious. How did someone not notice Miyu? It was impossible.

Temari breathed a small mental sigh of relief that they had got there on time. Tenten, the name was so familiar. She craned her neck to see who this girl was and was shocked to find a slightly older version of that girl Temari had beat so quickly in the Chunin exams. Blood was pooling at different places around her body and she wondered where exactly it was coming from. But Takeshi had everything under control so she occupied her time looking around for any signs of a battle. Before she could say anything, though, her younger brother decided to make his opinion known.

"What the hell?" Kankuro yelled as he looked around. "There's no signs of a battle going on here." He glared at the bird perched happily on Miyu's arm. "Did you lie to us?"

The bird stood more erect and seemed to glare at Kankuro. "Ay's not a liar! Ay's was tellin' the truth. Not my fault tat ya can't see as good as I."

Kankuro fisted his hands. Temari gave Shikamaru a look that said 'I swear I'm not related to this idiot' and he shot her a look back that said he was utterly bored and just wanted to get out of the sun.

"I have perfect eyesight you sad excuse for a turkey dinner," Kankuro said indignantly. "And my eyesight tells me that there was no significant battle here." Obviously, he knew something had happened for one of their teammates, probably the weakest one, was laying in a pool of her own blood unconscious. But Kankuro had seen many battle fields before and even the least messiest were messier than this spic-and-span one.

"That's where you're wrong," Kiba interjected as he came closer to the group. He looked at his leader. "Can't get a good lock on their scent. Just like Miyu–san said," he reported.

They all looked over at the redhead who was busy petting Hitoshi's broad chest, ignoring their looks.

"Oi? What 'appened to the chick wit 'orrible aim?" Hitoshi asked. "Tat her blood I's smell?" he asked.

Shikamaru nodded. And Kiba grew somber. Hitoshi gave a low whistle of pity.

"What happened here? How did she get those injuries?" Temari asked curtly.

Shikamaru regaled them with a shortened description of their adventure. There was an ancient bomb set up in the woods that Miyu defused. She sent up a plume of bright flames outlined in black smoke from where the fire from the bomb had caught a few leaves on fire. They purposely set it off so the enemy would believe them to be dead giving them more of an element of surprise. Then, they sent a decoy to hold their attention while the rest of them got into place. Finally, they separated the enemy. Miyu needed a moment with the leader so she'd be able to give the Kazekage more information on them. It seems, though, that the enemies' skill was so great that neither Kiba nor Tenten–both aggressive fighters–were able to defeat their opponents. That wasn't their goal, of course, but if even one of them was taken down that'd just mean less conflict in the future.

"No kidding." Kiba snorted. "I couldn't even touch the old man. He moved like a medic, dodging all blows with ease and grace." He frowned as he thought back to that fight. "Actually, he didn't want to fight at all."

"A shinobi who didn't want to fight?" Kankuro asked with incredulity.

Kiba shrugged and regaled him with a lopsided grin. "Yeah, pissed me off too."

"However," Takeshi interjected, wiping his hands clean of blood after he finished patching up Tenten as best he could. "It seems that one of them was out for blood. They got a major artery of hers and if we don't get her out of here now it's hard to say whether or not she'll be without complications in the future." He looked the rest of the shinobi over. "Is anyone else injured?"

Kiba shook his wild mane of hair. "No, not real–"

"Kiba!"

Said boy looked at Miyu who had called his attention sharply. But she wasn't looking at him. He followed her gaze and saw his large companion on the floor, panting.

"Akamaru? Are you okay? We didn't really do much," he mused.

No answer.

"Akamaru?" a bit of fear rose in his tone.

"He's been poisoned," Miyu said. She lifted up her arm to dispel the large bird as she came to her knees next to the shallow breathing dog.

Takeshi walked forward but the woman put up a hand.

"This is not something you can fix."

His eye twitched. "What do you mean? I am a skilled medic _trained_ in poisons–"

"_Current_ poisons," she corrected. "This poison is not something that you could extract out here, for you have no knowledge of what it contains. If it is not extracted within the next hour he will become greatly incapacitated." She paused and added, "And you are not a vet either."

Takeshi couldn't argue but he could glare at the ground.

"Incapacitated?" Kiba asked warily.

"He may be paralyzed for the rest of his life," she answered bluntly. "This is the work of Norio. He was not out to harm Akamaru, simply detain him."

Kiba's tanned face paled drastically and his heart jumped into his throat. When had he done that? While Kiba had been fighting him the old man hadn't even pulled out a kunai to defend himself. Kiba replayed the battle in his mind quickly. There! That was when he had done it. When Akamaru had jumped up to grab the old man's obi with the intent of throwing him to the ground the old man must have struck when he twisted.

He swallowed his heart down to ask, "Well what are you waiting for? Heal him or something."

She gave him a pained look. All the conscious shinobi felt their hearts break at the sight. Temari stepped up.

"What is it Miyu?"

Hitoshi coughed. "_Miyu–hime_," he said forcefully at the blond but his demeanor turned gentle when looking at his master. "Ya don't gotta ya know. If ya tells 'em they'll und'a'stan'."

"Don't you dare kill Akamaru that easily bird brain!" he yelled with such raw emotion that it tore at his fellow shinobi's hearts. The sand shinobi felt pity at the sight. The Inuzuka was very protective over his ninken and wouldn't allow a summon to slander Akamaru's name and importance.

Kiba looked like he was about to maul that bird into oblivion. Unconsciously, Shikamaru put a restraining hand on his shoulder. The genius almost did a double take. Kiba was known for being a wild, rough, aggressive, and a bit of a perverted shinobi. It was extremely unusual for him to show uncertainty or apprehension. Shikamaru narrowed his dark eyes. It was even more unusual for him to be shaking.

But it was understandable. This was his best friend, his comrade. Inuzuka's were loyal and the genius wondered what would happen if Miyu did not help Akamaru. Would Kiba cease to become a shinobi if his companion was not healed? It was very possible.

Hinata held her breathe. She loved Akamaru like he was her own. Though she knew that her love would never compare to that of Kiba's, she didn't want anything to happen to the fluffy guy.

"Ano." Her voice sounded unusually loud in the tense atmosphere, for even the sand shinobi could see in Kiba's watery eyes that if there wasn't a miracle in the next hour they'd have a funeral to attend to. Maybe Hitoshi's, Kankuro thought.

"P-please," Hinata continued with her soft, sweet voice just barely holding back tears as she looked at the crimson haired woman with nothing but raw emotion. "If you can do s-something t-to help Aka–akamaru then _please_ Miyu–hime. Please save him."

There was a long stem of silence where all shinobi waited for her answer. Takeshi however, didn't want to be crude, but he was wondering just how long this was going to take. Even though he didn't know the unconscious girl he had just treated as well as he could in the battlefield, he was still worried about her safety.

Miyu chanced a glance over at the bird who decided to make the tip of Temari's fan his new perch, much to the sand kunoichi's distaste. It was just creepy having an oversized blue bird right behind you.

"Ay…I know," Hitoshi answered resolutely. "Calls 'im. He won't like it anymor' 'an me but he'll und'a'stan."

There were no handseals this time when she summoned. She bit her thumb, wrote a strange symbol on her hand, held it out at an empty space and called out softly with an undertone of apprehension, "_Uma Tenshi: Kuchiyose no Jutsu (1)_."

There was no _poof_ as the Konoha shinobi experienced with Hitoshi's appearance. Instead there was a bright, warm ray of white light that had all of them concealing their eyes. Hinata had sensitive eyes so when it appeared she let out a small gasp of pain at the slight burning behind her retina. She held up one sleeve to her own eyes and the other covered Tenten's, just in case.

Kiba was a little slower to react since his main concern was not for his eyes, but for his friend. "Ow! Kami, that smarts!" he exclaimed as he closed his eyes and brought up a dark sleeve.

As the light faded and they felt it was safe to look, all the shinobi's eyes were wide in amazement at the figure standing beside Miyu.

It was a large, sturdy looking horse that stood six feet tall. There was a glow around it that shined off its golden toned body. Its white hair flowed almost like a halo around it. On its back were two pairs of wings that–if extended–would possibly expand to a width of twelve feet. The plumes were pure white and looked soft, heavenly. Its forehead carried a crest of a white diamond with the kanji for wind written in black in the middle.

For a moment, all the shinobi there, even the tough ones, felt small and insignificant beside the great and daunting presence that his summon had brought with him…or her.

"Why have you sent for me?" it asked in a deep, suave voice.

Miyu stared him straight in the eyes, a task that not even Temari, the oldest sister of the Kazekage and ANBU member could get herself to do.

"I need to heal this animal," she explained.

The horse snorted and the air blew bits of crimson hair away from Miyu's face.

"I thought you were finished with such trivial things," the horse said threateningly but suavely.

Miyu's small shoulders squared back. "I understand your concern but I will not deter from this path."

Concern? Kankuro thought. It was more like he was scolding her rather than expressing any sincerity.

All the shinobi's sensed that there was something they were missing here, but didn't dare utter a word in the presence of this majestic creature. Whether they were thinking about Miyu or the intimidating horse, they didn't know.

Miyu continued, "He is important to someone. Hitoshi feels the same as you if that will alleviate any doubts."

The horse snorted as if that was a silly assumption, which Hinata, who had a large vantage point, could see. Hitoshi seemed rather crude and coarse when compared to the magnificent creature in front of her. The bird ruffled its feathers in aversion to what his summoner said.

"Know that I am not condoning this," the horse said.

"You are under no obligations."

This was a lie, but she felt like she had to say it. If he really didn't want to do it then who was she to force him? Sure, she was his summoner, but she wanted him to make the decision himself.

The horse chuckled low. "Go on, Miyu–hime. Next time there is no need for lies, not between us."

Miyu turned back with a broad smile on her face and put a hand on the dog's shoulder. Takeshi, an experienced medic, was waiting to see some sort of chakra form around the dog or at least some sort of substance enveloping her hand. However, he was sorely disappointed and thoroughly confused when nothing noticeable took change.

There was a tense silence surrounding the shinobi and company that nothing could be heard. No animals, not a single blade of grass or even the rustling of leaves. All the shinobi's breath mingled together in unison, becoming one. It was a delicate atmosphere. One that would shatter into a million pieces for the better, or for the worse, should whatever Miyu was doing did not work.

In a flash, Akamaru shot up and clobbered Miyu, hiding her form with his large body as he slobbered her with his tongue. The sound of tinkling laughter cut the tense atmosphere and all the shinobi let out the breath they didn't know they had been holding.

Temari put a hand on her heart. "I thought I was about to have a heart attack," she muttered.

"Me too," Takeshi replied, scratching his head and trying to make sense of what had just happened.

Shikamaru crossed his arms and shook his head at the clear blue sky. "Troublesome mission."

Kiba, no longer supported by the lazy nin, fell forward onto his knees. When Akamaru gave a loud bark Kiba called out.

"Akamaru."

With his tongue lolling out of his mouth, he turned to look at his master. Then both Inuzukas shot forward and ended up colliding in a tangle of limbs and fur.

"You idiot–" bark! "I was so worried–" playful growl. "I'll teach you a lesson about scarin' me like that again–" bark! Bark! "Hana and Ma are gonna be pissed if they hear about this–" whine. "…Yeah…" Both Inuzuka's stopped rolling around long enough to think about how they were going to keep this from their family. If Kiba's mom ever found out she'd most likely have Kumomaru, her companion, tear both Kiba and Akamaru manhood while she screamed murder in their ears.

Kiba absently rubbed his earlobe and slightly crossed his legs as he stood up with a hand on Akamaru's head, still not believing that he made such a miraculous recovery from whatever poison overtook him. He wasn't going to let him out of his sight ever again. And he was definitely going to repay that old man.

"Not that I want to break up the little reunion," Takeshi stated loudly. All conversation ceased, "but there's still the matter of your comrade in need of medical attention."

Before Shikamaru could bark out orders for the travel up ahead with an injured, Miyu spoke up.

"No. I will tend to her."

She glided towards Tenten's form but stopped short when Takeshi's tall body blocked her way.

"What are you planning to do?" he asked casually.

Kiba thought this as weird. Tenten wasn't his friend or even an acquaintance of his yet he acted more protective over her than her own comrades. Maybe it was a doctor thing. Or maybe he wanted all the glory. Either way it was just weird.

"My intentions are the same as yours. The only difference is that I will succeed."

Woah, Kankuro thought. That was a low blow. Takeshi wasn't arrogant or prideful, in fact he seemed pretty laid back from all the times Kankuro had ever talked to him–which had actually been only four times and added to a total of thirty minutes. But he knew his skill as an ANBU medical ninja–certainly not Tsunade–sama or her apprentice level but definitely near their range–and knew that even someone as laid back as him would take it personally when his reputation was at stake.

"What exactly are you planning to do?" he asked again in that casual tone but with a frigid undertone.

"Step aside child." Everyone's spine chilled significantly as the suave voice echoed. "Miyu–hime can do what you have never imagined in your wildest dreams." He turned to look at Shikamaru, recognizing him as the leader. "She will save your friend."

The genius nodded stiffly, slightly grateful and slightly scared.

"You praise me much where I have not deserved it," Miyu said as she continued on her way after Takeshi reluctantly stepped out of her way.

The horse snorted. "I speak only the truth. The praise was entirely in your head."

Everyone paused. Was that a joke? Apparently so because Miyu let out a bell-like giggle.

Then she sighed, almost in surrender. "I suppose you are right. When has this ever proven false?" Everything was always in her head. She despised that. But there were more important matters to tend to than her misery.

She bent down to touch Tenten's small form but stopped short.

"Is this tolerable?" she asked.

For a second, Hinata thought she was talking to her and was about to answer that yes, this was most definitely tolerable. But it was her honey toned summon that answered.

"Yes. For now."

Miyu considered drawing back but she couldn't, not when Tenten needed her. She put a small, ivory colored hand on Tenten's cheek, cradling it gently.

* * *

"Is no one going to tell me what happened?" Tenten asked sharply.

She had woken up to find her clothes missing and a hospital gown placed upon her body. Though, she was grateful that whoever had removed her clothes had steered clear of her buns. There were bright lights above her bed which alarmed her to the fact that she was in a hospital, though thankfully not hooked up to any contraption. Sitting next to her was a strange man that she had no knowledge of ever meeting. He introduced himself as a Rikujo Takeshi, the doctor who was in charge of healing her.

The doctor began doing an examination of her and ignored her every time she asked what happened to her. She had a chance to get a good look at him and felt lucky that she'd gotten the good fortune of getting a cute doctor, even though he'd be cuter if he told her what the hell happened to her.

"You will be briefed in the Kazekage's office after I'm done checking you," he finally answered.

"Where did all my clothes go?" she asked with venom. By that time her team had trickled in and formed a line at the end of her bed.

He sighed as his steady, green glowing hands placed themselves on her temples, checking for any abnormalities in her brain.

"They were all torn and bloody. Excuse us for not wanting to shock the villagers."

She gave a small smile at his exasperated tone.

"Here are some new clothes for the time being," Shikamaru stepped forward with a bundle in his hands and tossed them on the foot of her bed. "Your pack and scrolls are at our new location we'll be using while investigating this stuff."

She noticed blood on Shikamaru's flak jacket and wondered how it got there. He looked down, noticing her gaze.

"It's not mine," he said for the second time that day. He began wondering where he could wash it so as to stop answering such ridiculous questions.

"Are you doing fine Tenten?" Hinata asked timidly from between Shikamaru and Kiba.

"Yes. I am doing perfectly fine," she forced out while giving the medic a pointed look. He sneered before going back to his work. "Who took off my clothes?" she asked warily.

"A nurse," Takeshi answered.

"I know you were hoping it was me, Tenten," Kiba smirked from his perch on Akamaru's back. "Sorry for the disappointment." His wide grin revealed his canines.

She rolled her eyes at him. It was a good thing that none of her teammates seemed injured, which left the question: what the hell happened to her?

"Are you done?" she asked Takeshi when he crossed his arms.

He frowned as if thinking hard about something but nodded to her. "We'll leave so that you can get dressed." He gave Kiba a pointed look. "All of us."

Kiba raised his hands in surrender. "I've seen more than enough of Haru-chan–" a senbon whistled through the air and cut a few hairs just below Kiba's ear. "Where in the world do you get your weapons woman?" he asked, unconcerned that his ear was almost pierced through.

Tenten had been stripped of all her weapons for obvious reasons but she still managed to find something sharp to throw at the Inuzuka.

Her lips turned up into a smirk. "I'm a weapon's master Kiba. Figure it out on your way out the door."

Her teammates left but Takeshi paused after picking up his senbon and turned to look at her.

"Do you feel any sort of nausea or dizziness?"

Tenten shook her head. "Not that I can feel."

"Any pain or pressure to the back of your head?"

"No. Like I said before, I feel perfectly fine." In fact, she felt like a new woman.

"No bruise-like feelings along your arms or legs?"

"No."

"Do you remember anything at all?"

She frowned. "Not really, no. But I guess I'll be briefed about it later. Can I get changed now?"

Takeshi nodded, though didn't feel like he had answered any of the questions he had formed when carrying her back to Suna. Instead, he had gained more. But he left nonetheless. After all, Miyu would be at the debriefing and he would get his questions answered there.

One made itself more prominent in his mind.

Just how had she healed Tenten without the use of chakra?

* * *

**A/N:**

**Well, finally finished this one. Actually I finished it a while ago but I never got around to proof reading it until now. For anyone who's following this story I have a super duper update on my profile that you should probably read. **

**Hope you all liked it. **

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**

"How were your travels?" Gaara asked from his seat behind his desk at Shikamaru who stood right in front of him. Flanking him on the right was that dog boy and his ninken, and that Hyuga girl. On his left was a girl whose face was familiar, but her name had never registered in his mind, and Rikudo Takeshi, his ANBU.

"We ran into a little bit of a problem during the early beginnings." Sikamaru then regaled him with the same information he'd given Temari. Kankuro interjected his own observations of the supposed battlefield.

When he finished all Gaara could say was, "I see."

"Kazekage-sama," his ANBU called for his attention. "If I may I wish to ask Miyu-san a few questions."

Gaara nodded his assent.


	9. Briefing

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

* * *

**Briefing**

Tenten found her doctor at the end of the hall, waiting for her. He said that the meeting place was changed from the Kazekage's office to Suna's Interrogation Unit.

"Why?" she asked him as she fell into step beside him. He refused to let her use chakra and just leap there so they were walking. It was infuriating to Tenten but he was a doctor and if Sakura or Tsunade-sama were anything to go by…it was best just to do what they said.

He gave her a half smile. "Because Miyu-san requested it. Said that she didn't want to sit in a stuffy office."

"So we're going to a torture chamber?" she asked lightly.

The ANBU gave a chuckle, a rare sight that had Tenten's eyes widen. "Whatever makes her feel comfortable."

Suna's Interrogation Unit was a foreboding place. Adobe walls loomed large and ominous. Even the sign was creepy. It was imbedded into the wall above the large double doors but over the words were scars, suggesting a fight had happened here. They were old scars so the fight was not recent. Up near the top left corner was a scorch mark. All around it had the signs of weathered and worn, but something about the place told her that it was would take a lot to bring it down.

Takeshi pushed open the maroon colored doors and led her down the green tiled hall with beige colored walls. _Well, no accounting for taste_, she thought. _The only sure thing that Suna has going for them is their freaky ninja._

"We're going down into one of the interrogation rooms for those who don't want to cooperate."

"Just in case Miyu-san doesn't feel like sharing?"

"Hai," he said in appreciation. This girl was no newbie. She caught on real quick to things and that was good for Takeshi, less things to explain.

They walked down sand colored steps at least two floors down. Then Takeshi opened up a door on the side of the wall that didn't even have a handle. When they stepped in she wasn't surprised to see her team but she was surprised to see all three sand siblings in front of them.

"Your assessment," demanded the Kazekage tonelessly.

His voice sent chills down Tenten's spine when he looked over at the ANBU next to her after giving her a brief glance. The Konoha shinobi felt miniscule against his large presence, but shook it off to focus on the report of their teammates well being.

"Um…she seems fine," Takeshi answered with a hand rubbing the back of his neck. "I can't explain it…. She shouldn't be able to walk for at least two days but there's no sign of any aggravation to her muscles. Her brainwaves seemed normal. The only problem is that she can't remember what happened to her."

Tenten glanced around the room, surprised to find it vaguely empty. There was a metal desk on the far right corner. Above her head were dangling chains adorned with chakra depleting seals. When she finished routine assessment of the room her attention was diverted by a young woman with crimson hair.

From behind the Kazekage, Miyu answered.

"That is my fault, I am afraid." She stepped forward between the two groups the shinobi had unconsciously divided into.

When her arm brushed his, Gaara had to contain a shiver. _This is unusual_, he thought curiously. He was always the one to create a reaction, such as fear, in people. He had never been affected by a mere brush of skin such as this. It was worth looking into he concluded. Beside him, Kankuro noticed that his little brother looked tenser than normal. But he shrugged it off on account that they were finally about to get some much needed information. _About time_, he snorted mentally.

"What do you mean?" Tenten asked. No one had told her anything about why in the world she had woken up in the hospital, and even less why they had decided to undress her.

She was wearing a pair of jonin pants and a black t-shirt too big for her. She didn't mind it though, the loose fabric was comfortable. But she'd still like to know why she was even wearing this stuff. Her doctor was lucky, though. If the nurses had touched her breast bindings she was liable to cause extreme harm to the hospital and its workers. Though they did smell a little too new and looked too white to be hers. She wouldn't dwell on that thought too much since there seemed to be something that she was missing here.

Though Kiba noted when she first came in that he was rather disappointed that the village of sand didn't have any other outfits for Tenten. He wouldn't have minded the distraction of a cloth similar to that dress she wore before in this tense atmosphere.

Her team fidgeted when she shot them a questioning gaze. Kiba didn't want to look at her now because the smell of her blood was still fresh in his nostrils and it wasn't a pleasant scent. Hinata felt a bit guilty that she didn't aide Tenten and averted her pale eyes. Even the shadow wielder refused to meet her gaze.

"Shikamaru," she called with determination. He was going to give her an answer or answer to her weapons. With her doctor-who looked like a medical ninja-standing next to her she could see a pouch, possibly full of kunai and stuff, situated behind his back. If they wouldn't answer her voluntarily, a little pointy metal prodding would have to take place. "What happened? Why was I in the hospital?"

Her doctor answered, "You received numerous lacerations to your body as a result of a katana, I believe it was. I attended to you on the battlefield as best I could but it was imperative to get you to the hospital. An artery was cut clean through and if you didn't receive treatment you might not be here." He frowned at the memory of when Miyu healed the girl.

If there was one thing in the world he hated more than anyone messing with his village, it was his reputation as an excellent medical ninja being tarnished. Especially by someone who wouldn't tell him how they healed a girl practically torn to ribbons without feeling fatigue or even slightly dizzy.

When Miyu had healed Tenten, she dismissed the large horse and proceeded walking towards the hidden village without any prodding. When they were close, she dismissed the bluebird and walked the rest of the way, under Konoha and Suna surveillance, towards the Kazekage tower. The trip had taken eight hours.

It was common knowledge that the desert provided no shade. The Konoha nin were sweating mildly while Miyu, who had donned her dark cloak, was as fresh as if she had just taken a bath. Her pace had been moderate and showed no signs of fatigue from the immense healing that must have taken place. If it was him, he thought, he'd definitely be the slowest of the group due to chakra depletion. Not so for the crimson eyed woman.

"Okay," Tenten said slowly, trying to wrap her mind around his words. She felt fine. Her body felt refreshed, even. "Thanks for healing me…I guess."

Takashi shook his head. "You're misunderstanding. I did treat you on the battlefield but it was Miyu-san who healed you. I requested you be put in the hospital for examination." His soft, aquamarine eyes looked at the red headed girl. "How did you heal her without chakra and why can't she remember how she got the injuries?"

All shinobi glanced at the young woman. Her head was slightly bowed and her hands gripped the edges of her sketchbook nervously. She wanted to explain to them everything, but…there was something stopping her. During her stay with the sand siblings she had grown attached to them, a dangerous feeling that she shouldn't have allowed. While wanting to help them, she didn't want to incriminate herself for fear that they would become disappointed.

There was no way around the truth. That she knew for certain. Tenten deserved to know the truth and the Kazekage deserved to know what exactly was happening in his village.

"Come on Miyu-san," Kankuro said impatiently. "Suck it up and spit it out, whatever it is. You're going to have to tell us eventually so you may as well start now," he tacked on as an afterthought. Everyone silently agreed with his words, though Temari wished for him to at least say it in a tactful way.

Miyu willed herself to–in Kankuro's words–"suck it up and spit it out."

Her child-like voice was unemotional as she answered. She was being careful not to show any emotion. "The last thing you remember is waking up in the camp, correct Tenten?"

Tenten looked up, trying to see back into her mind. Her coffee eyes widened in realization. Yes, the last thing that she remembered was waking up at camp…shaking Kiba and Shikamaru…then waking up in the hospital. She didn't feel like anything was missing, but it seemed that there was.

"What happened?" she asked again.

Miyu steeled herself any reactions her words may cause. "After you awoke we began walking towards our intended destination. Hitoshi-kun informed me that a trap had been set up to ensure the Konoha shinobi's demise. I know the people who set it up. I also knew that I needed time alone with the leader so that I would be able to speak out against them when the time came. Shikamaru came up with a plan to use the trap to our advantage. It was my role to detonate and divert the flame towards the sky to ensure that any sand shinobi on surveillance would see a black plume of smoke and dispatch a convoy.

"I had also sent Hitoshi-kun to scout for said convoy to ensure our rescue. Once the first phase was complete, it was time for the subsequent phase. You were to take down," she flipped the sketchbook open to show the sketch of Jun, "this man. His name is Jun and he is also a weapon's master. Though none of you had heard of him."

"So…" Tenten pursed her lips and furrowed her brows, trying to recall the face of the man shown to her. But she had never seen it before in her life. "This is the guy who tried to kill me?" No…she couldn't see it. She felt better than okay. So there was no way that they had gotten into a fight. Then she remembered something from back in the hospital. "Shikamaru."

The genius locked eyes with her.

"It was mine. Wasn't it?" she asked carefully.

He nodded gravely. After all the questions he had endured in the hospital, he quickly stripped himself of the blood stained flak vest leaving only his dark undershirt on. It was a good thing he was wearing long sleeves, he supposed. As the night grew dark it also grew cold.

Miyu ripped the page and handed it to the Kazekage. Gaara and his siblings stared at the image, engraving it into their minds as the same thoughts ran thought their heads. This man might have participated in the kidnappings. He might have even planned them. Kankuro's hand formed a fist and Temari looked disgustedly at the image. The Kazekage wanted to tear the paper up, but the paper wasn't the one committing the crimes. If anything, his resolve strengthened. Now, he had to think like a political leader. If Miyu-san had anymore sketches, then he would send them to be copied and posted all over Suna. From there it would only be a matter of time before someone spotted and caught them.

"Yes. However we shall delve further into his dark mind at a later date. Currently, all that is needed is basic information for the Kazekage that Shikamaru will explain further in detail in parchment for future utilization."

At this, the lazy nin sighed. "Troublesome," he grumbled.

Even though Temari felt like she was about to hurl from disgust at seeing the face to the crimes, she couldn't help the smirk that appeared on her tan face. If there was something that the lazy genius hated more than getting into a fight it was paperwork.

"Of course," Miyu added with a hint of amusement, "Kiba-san and Hinata-san's testimony would be much appreciated."

Hinata nodded. After all, how could a mission report be properly filled if there was only one perspective on it? Kiba openly slumped. He hated mission reports. Moving a pen in his hands was a far cry from the action an Inuzuka craved. Kankuro gave him a mocking face for a second but quickly restored his serious demeanor.

"Back to the matter at hand," Gaara ordered. He never spoke much, which was fine with him. He knew that words were not his forte but when he said something people listened. Out of fear or respect, it was all the same to him. However, he wanted to waste no more time in resolving this matter. They had already wasted six months due to the slow procedures of the council. He wasn't going to make that mistake again.

"Yes," Miyu nodded. Her voice was again unemotional. "Our plan was to split the enemy of their muscle. Tenten was to distract Jun, while Kiba was to distract Norio and Daiki." Her small hand ripped out another page and handed it to Gaara. "Norio was once in the medical field as you noted Kiba. However his knowledge truly pertains to only one branch."

"Poisons," Kiba growled. His hand unconsciously landed atop Akamaru's large head. The ninken nuzzled into his master's hand, silently telling him that he was okay. They were okay.

"Hai. Daiki is a different story. His strength is…" she paused, trying to determine just what information was readily needed and what could be left out and later put into a report.

"Genjutsu."

It was not Miyu who answered. Her head flicked to the Hyuga heiress, who looked to be deep in thought enough to not notice the eyes that had landed on her.

There was just something about his eyes, she noted, that really trapped you. Her mind seemed to slip away from her body the longer she stared at him. It was the same with any genjutsu. The only difference was that Daiki had taken his time in performing it. He had allowed her to determine what his attack was but had taken her so far away from herself that it was too late to do anything about it. Why hadn't he finished the job then and there? Was it because it was not their intent to kill them? That couldn't be it. Tenten had been on the verge of death because of one of them. And Daiki himself had even stated that they purposely chased after them. What was their actual intent, she wondered.

Hinata noticed that all had grown silent. Shouldn't Miyu-san be explaining something, she thought. When she looked up, all eyes were on her. Instantly, red flowed into her cheeks. However, her face paled when she looked upon the livid face of Miyu.

Miyu's voice was loaded when she asked, "How did you know?" She held her breath, hoping that Hinata wasn't about to say what she feared.

Hinata's breath was caught in her lungs and butterflies erupted in her stomach. She couldn't answer her. Miyu looked like she was about to kill her if she answered wrong. And she knew that her answer was the wrong one.

Kiba, watching this exchange carefully, stepped up. "While I was fighting the old guy that guy Daiki came up behind me. Hinata deflected whatever attack had the old guy spooked."

Even breaths began growing shallower as Miyu processed the information at lightning speed in her head.

"You allowed her to fight?"

All the shinobi tensed for a fight. Shikamaru's hands were loosely formed into seals. Temari's hands gripped her fan. Kankuro's were poised near his scrolls. Takeshi moved in front of Tenten who had no way of protecting herself and Gaara could hear his sand shifting in his gourd, signaling a deadly intent. Akamaru barked and whined as Miyu grew agitated.

Shadows began clouding Miyu's vision darkening the beige room into a murky color. When the shadows touched her, they burned liquid fire. She cringed but was helpless to stop their advance. They covered her sense of reasoning. As the shadows began to reach into the corner of her mind, they unlocked something dark. Its black, whirly tendrils tingled her senses. Slowly, they numbed them. The shadows stretched and began to multiply into various vine-like creatures.

She shook her head rapidly, trying to dispel the monster. Her eyes were shut tight in an effort to control herself. Small hands began to shake from the effort and she didn't know how long she could stand it. There was a divide in her mind.

One side was very much in control and able to think logically. The other was dark and sinister. In between was small bridge on which she stood directly in the middle. Her hands gripped the rail tightly, refusing to budge. While on the edge of insanity, her reasonable mind heard the Inuzuka's answer.

"They already saw her so it'd be pointless to let her leave if she didn't want to."

"Were you in trouble?" Miyu's reasonable mind asked.

"Yes," she heard. "I was unaware of the enemy coming up from behind me."

She sneered. "Then you should have died! The plan was to keep concealed, Hinata. You were to be an observer. If your friend was too incompetent to smell the enemy then it was his own fault."

"Hey," Shikamaru voiced. "She was only trying to help." Though he didn't condone Hinata skewing from protocol, this was still his team and if anyone was going to discipline them it was going to be himself. He was being overprotective of his team because he had almost witnessed one of them die. That was a feeling he never wanted to entertain again after Sasuke's retrieval failed. If Hinata felt it imperative to save her comrade, then that was perfectly fine with the genius.

"You…you…baka!" Miyu spat at the heiress, ignoring everyone else. "You have no idea of the consequences you have just brought on yourself. The danger that your actions called forth." Her voice was beginning to darken.

She could feel her hands shift centimeter by centimeter towards the dark abyss. She strained towards the light, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Her legs came forward ready to push Hinata into the far wall to knock some sense into her. Before anyone could move, Gaara's sand flew forward. It wrapped itself around Miyu's throat, bended her arms behind her back, and brought her down to her knees.

"Calm yourself," he said.

Something about her darkened iris brought forth the memory of his demon. Shukaku. At the Chunin exams, when Suna was affiliated with the Sound, he had allowed Shukaku to take control of his body. The dark demon energy swirled inside him, driving him to insanity and unrestrained bloodlust. He could not tell what look appeared in his eyes when that happened. But if he had to guess, it would look a lot like what Miyu looked like now.

Her eye gazed darkly at the Kazekage and his siblings visibly tensed.

Both of them thought that she looked like the old Gaara. Though Shukaku was long gone, the image of their brother's face when the demon took over continued to haunt them. Her look froze them both. Miyu's cherry lips were curled up into a mischievous smile.

Before any of them could form a thought, everyone was flung back by an intense pressure. Everyone hit the walls hard, chipping the rock. Groans and surprised cries filled the air for a split second that was soon followed by groans of pain. They all fell to the floor in a bruised heap.

"You do not contain me, Kazekage. No one does."

Standing proudly in the middle of the room was the crimson haired woman. When Gaara tried to send some sand out again, he was surprised to find it slink back into his gourd. Never in his life had the sand not followed his command. The sand was an extension of himself, his chakra intertwined with it. He could tell that it wanted to follow his orders, but it couldn't come out.

Miyu looked at them. The pathetic creatures. So easily overpowered. Mortals were easy to scare and it gave her a twisted pleasure being the cause of that fear. It gave her pleasure to be the cause of their pain. When she glanced at Temari, who had hit her head on the wall, her wicked smile faltered. A trail of blood trickled down from underneath the blonde's headband.

Intense pain racked her head. It began pounding as if something was knocking, wanting to come out. She gripped her head and fought desperately against the pull of the dark to go towards the light. Veins bulged in her right eye, the one hidden from view by her thick bangs. Her hands covered it, trying to subdue the pain germinating from it. Slowly, she inched her way towards the light, refusing to be sucked in by the darkness.

Liquid fire burned her body as she fought for control. Sluggishly, the pounding began to fade. She was winning. The fire quelled enough for her to feel the coldness of the room. The flames in her right eye dimmed, though she held it closed. The light of the interrogation room was irritating.

She sighed a bit in relief. It was comforting to feel something other than burning magma. Her skin grew goose bumps as she focused on the cold and the relief it seemed to bring.

She was vaguely aware of other voices trying to guard each other, to warn each other from getting too close. As the pain in her skull anesthetized her composure slumped in fatigue. Her eyes begged to be closed but she held them up to look the surprised Kazekage in the face.

"Please…" she said a bit breathlessly. The mental struggle left her body in a buzz, as if she had just sprinted twenty miles under the scorching desert. "Forgive my actions. I…went too far." She sought pale, lavender eyes. "I ask your…forgiveness Hinata-sama. I was too brash. My personal feelings influenced my…actions in an unjustifiable way. For that I deeply apologize to everyone." She strained her eyes open again to look the redhead. "May I retire to my quarters? I am…exhausted."

Gaara thought quickly. She didn't look like she would be a danger anymore. The fatigue was clearly written on her face and body position. But just in case…

"Temari and Kankuro will accompany you."

They were about to step forward, albeit a bit reluctantly, when a reasonable voice stopped them.

"Kazekage-sama," Takeshi addressed. "It is Temari-sama's and Kankuro-sama's turn to patrol the grounds. I believe that I, along with the shadow user, should take Miyu-san back to her quarters. From there we rotate shifts."

Gaara nodded. It was his siblings turn to go on patrol. But if Miyu should escape Rikujo was more than able to disable her with his medical skills, and the shadow user would do well in restricting her movements. He tried to remember the exact skills that each Konoha shinobi excelled in to create an exceptional bodyguard team.

"Bodyguard positions will rotate every eight hours. Following Rikujo-san and Nara-san is Inuzuka-san and Tenten-san. I will call out the positions as the days progress. Dismissed."

Miyu walked away, her chin resting on her chest, her body guards quickly taking up the rear. _How ever will I endure the journey to our destination without passing out_, she wondered. She woke up a bit when her head came in contact with the closed door.

* * *

Shikamaru was posted outside of her door, bored to tears. Yet, his mind would not stop revolving around the crimson haired girl. What had happened back there? And why? He hated not knowing the answer but while the girl was passed out there was no way of knowing. They'd have to wait until the next day. He slumped against the wall, eyes closed but still alert for any alert from Rikujo-san.

Inside the dark room, Rikujo Takeshi stood at the far end of the room, staring at the foot of Miyu's bed with his arms crossed and his body resting against the cold wall. She truly was beautiful, he thought. There was little moonlight that filtered into her room due to its position in the sky, but there was enough to make a milky halo around her form. About two hours had passed and he wondered if she had fallen asleep yet.

He walked silently across the room to stand over her. His tall body created a light shadow across her sheet covered form. When his tan hand reached down to pull back the curtain of hair, he paused as shock registered in his features.

"I am awake," Miyu informed him.

He quickly withdrew his hand and whispered an apology.

"It is fine," she said. Her child voice was laced heavy with weariness.

"You can't sleep?" he asked. He made sure to be extra quiet in case the shinobi behind the door had exceptional hearing.

When she turned to face him, her visible eye was left in darkness but the red iris was clearly visible, giving her a villainous. A part of the natural light colored her hair bright poppy red. It left the other part in the shadows revealing a blood shade. She shook her head and smiled, nothing sinister but of a playful nature.

"I cannot. Ask me why."

"Why?" Takeshi asked, playing along with her.

Her blood colored nail dug into the sheets now pooled around her midsection. She watched it in an attempt to seem innocent. And it was working.

"For I have not had my goodnight kiss, Rikujo-san."

His face showed nothing but delight at the turn of conversation. He faked a frown.

"Come on. I think we're past the suffixes. Most of the Konoha shinobi are on village watch. The Kazekage and his siblings are also far away and very busy. Shikamaru is just behind the door, but, technically, we are all alone."

Miyu's delicate hand came up and patted her mouth as a small yawn escaped.

"How terribly uninteresting," she deadpanned.

He put a hand over his chest. "You break my heart."

"ANBU show no emotion while on a mission. Keeping watch over me is your mission…correct?" she smirked.

His blond locks came forward when he nodded. "I've never been a stickler for the rules. Case in point," he sat down next to her on the bed. From her demeanor it didn't seem that she was going to attack him. But if he was being honest with himself–he usually was–he didn't really care. He wanted to be close to her. So he leaned in, settling his hands on the bed space near her thighs. His breath fanned her face, moving her bangs side to side.

"Nor have you the decent courtesy of enforcing the idea of personal space," she retorted with a smile tugging at her lips.

"Oh please," Takeshi scoffed. "You like me in your personal space. Am I right? Or am I right?"

She shook her head in amusement. "I refuse to dignify that with an answer."

He leaned in, his lips only a few centimeters away. The heat from her lips tantalized him and he wanted nothing more than to capture them with his own. He did, after saying "I'm right."


	10. Little Stupid Mice

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

**Little Stupid Mice**

After yesterday's spectacle everyone was a bit on edge in the interrogation room.

It was too large, Tenten felt. She didn't necessarily mind large places but it seemed that large rooms were naturally susceptible to the emotions of those occupying them. If the atmosphere was tense, as it was now, then the emotion would spread like a thick cloth over all inhabitants and influence them.

She looked over at her comrades. Shikamaru seemed unusually tense which probably wasn't so unusual given the situation. Kiba's face showed no emotion whatsoever. That unnerved Tenten more than she cared to admit. Last night, when they switched bodyguard roles, he had also been unusually quiet. She expected him to start teasing her when she accidentally bumped into him. His normal self would probably say "if you wanted to get closer to me, all you had to do was ask." But instead he sidestepped enough for her to take up a post inside Miyu's bedroom while he guarded from outside.

It was strange not to hear his light tone, but she could understand why he was angry. Hinata, though, seemed to be fairing a little better than her teammate.

Her eyes were glued to the ground and her shoulders slumped but at least she showed up. Tenten had to admire the delicate girl for that.

"Hyuga–sama," Takeshi called in a serious tone.

Hinata flinched. His voice sounded too loud in the spacious room. And why was he addressing her? Did she do something to upset him too?

"H-hai?"

"Are you ill? If so I am qualified to check you."

Hinata shook her head. Her pale eyes had not left the floor.

"No, it's not that," she said quietly.

Takeshi gave her a sympathetic smile she couldn't see. "We all mess up every once in a while. Just because we are ninja, doesn't mean we are perfect."

Hinata nodded, grateful for his kind words and feeling a bit lifted. Although, she couldn't help but feel strange knowing that this ANBU–who were usually reserved and serious–was trying to make her feel better.

"I know that's right. Only an insane human being could have such a fascination with sharp, pointy objects," Kiba grunted while looking pointedly at Tenten's scrolls which she finally recovered last night. He was a bit surprised at just how much that girl seemed to miss her weapons. He had wanted to make a joke about it last night but found himself in too foul a mood for joking.

He dreaded coming back into the interrogation room. He could still smell the sharp tang of Miyu's explosive chakra clinging to the wall. It burned his nostrils and his hairs stood on end at the thought of her.

The look in her eyes was, in every sense of the word, wild. It was an animal's look when one got too close to their prey. Or rather, he mused, it was a look like the cat stalking the mice. He wasn't sure if he liked that analogy or not, seeing as he was not a cat person, but it was the only way to describe that look. When she gazed at him, however briefly, he actually felt himself tremble. That hadn't happened ever since his genin days.

He had meant to find Hinata afterwards and reassure her that it was not her fault at all for what happened in the battlefield, but she had a visit with the medic to patch up a bruise she had received during Miyu's…episode. The fresh memories of the episode were stirring up the anger again, so he focused on keeping things light.

There was still a bit of that weird look in his eyes, but it made Tenten glad that he was back to joking. Now only if he'd stop cracking jokes about her. Then all would be right with the world.

"And only an insane human being could actually believe he can speak to dogs," she countered.

Kiba gave her a glare. "I can too. Tell her Akamaru."

Akamaru looked between his owner and the kunoichi and shook his large head, deciding wisely to stay out of any dispute of theirs. Kiba groaned.

"C'mon, man, you gonna abandon me now?"

Akamaru answered with a doggy grin.

Tenten laughed. Hinata, feeling a bit more comfortable than she had a few minutes ago, looked up fondly at Kiba and Akamaru. Kiba, just by being himself, always made Hinata feel better about a foreign situation. He was familiar, she supposed. She could tell that he was still rather affected by yesterday's events, but he was putting it aside in order to stop his teammates from worrying about him. Hinata admired him for that.

Shikamaru and Takeshi could only shake their heads at the scene. Takeshi would have told them both to stop fighting and focus on the mission, but this was too much fun to watch. And what was some harmful teasing between friends?

"You carry ropes and chains, right?" Kiba asked Tenten after she stopped laughing.

She eyed his mischievous look warily. "Yes."

"I knew it. You're into bondage. Definitely a twisted individual."

Shikamaru huffed a small laugh as Hinata's cheeks turned bright red. Takeshi brought a hand up to hide his laugh with a badly executed cough. _So maybe _friendly_ wasn't the term_, Takeshi thought.

Kiba was giving her his broad smile, the one that showed off his dimples and melted any girl to her knees. But it seemed that Tenten was either immune to it–not likely–or red had clouded her vision as she ran over and proceeded to attack him with the aggression of an Inuzuka and a ferocity that was solely her.

Kiba knew he was a fast guy, but this girl was really throwing him for a loop. Maybe it was that she had been on a team with Rock Lee and Maito Guy, two insane ninja who always pushed themselves past the logical, that she was capable of such speed. Or maybe the pink tinge to her cheeks made her act more rashly than usual. Either way, he wasn't denying her the right to fight for her honor, so fight she would.

When Tenten delivered a punch intended for his cheek he raised his hand to deflect it.

"Are you this amped up in the sack? If so I wouldn't mind a round," he taunted her, further clouding her vision. He couldn't help it though. She was the one who was setting herself up for these jokes.

He was feeling cocky about this fight. Even though she was fast, he was faster. His cocky grin faltered when he caught a certain victorious flash in her eyes. Faster than his mind could comprehend, he was suddenly facing the ground.

"–the hell?" he asked no one in particular.

There was a weight digging into the middle of his back and something was pulling harshly on his hands.

There were only some things that Tenten would allow someone to get away with. If it was a mild joke about her, she'd respond with a punch to the arm or retort back. But Kiba was getting into dangerous territory when he threw out that comment about "the sack." Tenten wasn't a prude. She knew some things of the more mature nature from just analyzing the world around her. She wasn't as clueless as Lee, at least. _Kami help the world when Lee discovers he actually has hormones_, she thought.

But she didn't enjoy the way Kiba made her sound like…a slut. She was sure he didn't mean to, but that was the way it sounded in her ears. To add injury to insult, he moved arrogantly, honestly labeling her as underneath him in terms of skill. Well, she thought with a mischievous grin, she'd have to change that.

So she picked up her speed. Quickly and efficiently, Kiba was hog-tied and lying face down on the floor, her foot on his back effectively keeping him there.

"You know," she commented mildly to his squirming figure, "bondage is useful in more ways than one. It can quickly subdue the enemy in order for me to inflict the final blow." She held a kunai to his throat, pressed it harder against his skin, feeling him pull back, and then tucking it safely into her pouch. "Or," she continued, "it allows me to show cocky kids just how much more combat experienced I really am."

It was moments like this in which she was eternally, though silently, grateful to have been part of team Guy. In that team there was no such thing as "give up" or "stop before you pass out." Their motto was "never give up" and "stop only after you pass out and start again when you wake up" and of course something about the flame of eternal youth and blossoms, but she and Neji left that part of the motto up to Guy and Lee.

"Three point two seconds," Takeshi noted with slight admiration, "not bad."

Tenten gave him a wide smile. "Thanks. I try but it was nothing really," she said modestly, although she felt extremely proud that an ANBU had even taken notice. She would have thought that their trivial fight would have bored him to tears but he seemed to be a pretty laid back guy.

"Can you _try_ to get me out of here, Tenten?" Kiba growled. He hated the thought of losing to a girl. His pride as an alpha male didn't allow it.

"Gee," Tenten sighed. "I _could_…but I don't want to." She followed the statement with a laugh of unrestrained glee.

As she laughed the door to the interrogation room was opened to allow the sand siblings and Miyu to come inside. Miyu continued until she was behind the desk, not really glancing at Kiba in his predicament. The same couldn't be said for the sand siblings.

Temari threw a questioning glance at the tied up kid, but she received no answer. Instead the kid growled at the girl Tenten who held a kunai and was grinning like the cat that ate the canary. She chanced a glance at Shikamaru who looked like he was debating whether or not to just untie the dog boy himself. When Takeshi met Temari's gaze he simply shrugged with a face filled with mirth.

A guffaw reached Kiba's ears. He, unfortunately, knew exactly who that was.

"My damn. We can't leave you Konaha sprites alone for two seconds without someone getting tied up." Kankuro slapped his knee.

Kiba growled again, "Tenten!" There was one thing in being publicly humiliated in front of your comrades, another entirely to be humiliated in front of the Kazekage and his siblings.

"Okay, okay," she consented. She pulled out her kunai again and cut through the thin, but strong wires holding his body down. When she let him go he resembled a rubber band the way his hands and legs migrated reflexively to the floor. He muttered a small "ow" and pulled himself up.

"Honestly Kiba. If you get hogtied so easily among friends I'd hate to see you among enemies," Kankuro teased.

In response, Kiba rolled his eyes and was about to defend his pride when a voice stopped him cold.

"May we continue with our questioning?" Gaara asked. He was more than willing to let his colleagues and brother verbally fight it out…had the lives of 26 of his citizens not been on the line.

Everyone, forgetting the light conversation from before, nodded. Gaara stepped aside and from behind him emerged the slight body of Miyu who had changed into black pants with the ribbons from her ballet shoes holding the bottoms down.

"Miyu–san," Gaara began, "finish telling us the impromptu plan you put together along with Shikamaru you began yesterday. I have already read the reports of the Konoha nin but I wish to hear your explanation of what exactly you were thinking when you thought up the plan."

Miyu nodded slowly. She had not slept a wink last night. After her and Takeshi's little…trist, she felt better but she still couldn't believe that she had let her emotions cloud her judgment. She hoped she wasn't falling over the edge of insanity…not yet anyways.

If he had already read the report then he knew exactly what had taken place in their fight. So Miyu decided to try another angle in order to get her story across and ultimately reveal her old team's dark plan for Sunagakure.

"Let me tell you a bit of my story before we continue, Kazekage." Miyu tried to open her eyes more but they remained droopy from lack of sleep. "I was born before the first Kazekage's reign, although it was in his reign that my story begins. Similar to your father he sought power and prestige. But unlike your father he was not doing it for the good of the village, but for himself."

At the mention of their father all three sand shinobi stiffened. Miyu was treading on dangerous territory. All three siblings didn't believe they had a father–they had a Kazekage and a ruthless, coldhearted one at that. _If it wasn't for him_, Gaara thought darkly, _my name would have never ended up as a curse among our people_. They would have accepted him and he wouldn't have had to deal for so long with a pain so deep and raw no words could describe it.

Temari was the eldest who had to endure her father's presence alone until Kankuro had grown up, and felt a hurt almost as deep as Gaara's. He was a bastard, pure and simple. She hated his guts for just ignoring his family like they were strangers, which in truth is what they were. She hated the look in his eyes when she would mess up a training exercise and the cold, biting words that taunted her and blackened her heart. Eventually, she learned to just ignore the jibes. After all, how could mockery from a stranger hurt her? He didn't know her. He didn't know that she strived to be the best–not for him–but so she could carve her own name into the world and replace the tainted one he had lain for her and her siblings.

As for the puppeteer, the memory of his father was one that he never wanted to bring up. He hated to admit it but it was because of _him_ that Kankuro, in his early years of life, felt insecure. Temari had never offered him solace because he suspected she didn't know how to give it. All she could do was look at him after a harsh scolding and hold her chin up, expecting him to do the same. Instead of taking their father's words with a roll of his eyes, Kankuro took them in, felt the anger the words cause in him, and lashed out on other people, weaker people. He became a bully to curve the hurt caused on him by a bigger bully, one with significantly more power than Kankuro. Kankuro couldn't even look at himself in the mirror without his bunraku paint because he looked so much like his father that it nauseated him.

Miyu gripped her head. Had she known what the sand siblings really thought of their father she would have never brought up the topic. In her mind she saw their disdain dripping with black and scarred by red, angry lines across the memories. The memories weren't hers however and the feeling they conjured up boiled inside her. Oh Kami how she hated her bloodline limit! She had to remember to keep her head lest she repeat an incident like before.

"I apologize if the memory of him is painful," she gasped as the pain of their memories combined seemed to alternate from beyond words to mild irritation in under the time span of a second. "But I need you to understand. The Wind country is not one with a light past. No culture cultivated out of a desert can be expected to form pink and shiny glimmers of hope. That was the land I, and unfortunately, you have grown in. The first was a man who wanted to bring the rest of the countries to their knees. The way to do that, in his eyes, was for a blitz attack. However, the country of Wind was divided as famine tore through the sand village with no remorse. The people were not united and they were nearing the point of revolution when the first was unable to secure provisions to ensure the health of the village.

"After all, with no army or followers how could one call themselves a leader? I was born…under more unfortunate circumstances than yours Gaara. I too was seen as a weapon from birth."

Gaara could not help the slight widening of his eyes that showed his interest. The rest of his face stayed stone cold. Every one had a question broiling in their minds but they kept their mouths shut to allow Miyu to explain. Yet, as she did they wondered how in the world was this twenty-six year old born more than one hundred years ago.

"You were born with a demonic entity sealed inside you. I am the demonic entity."

* * *

As Daiki walked down the hard stone steps he waited a moment before touching the ground floor. The air stank of misery and pain. Oh it was delicious to hear their cries of sorrow.

He walked down with a skip to his step. "Why hello, hello my pretties," he taunted the women and men in the cages. Gender had no meaning on him. They were his precious test subjects.

He was on his way to meet Kai and Norio to discuss on how to proceed with the research at hand. He shook his head. Those two he could stand. But Jun was starting to piss him off. Jun was moping that he hadn't gotten a chance to slice up that girl he had been fighting well and good and serve her on a platter. Ever since they had gotten back he had vowed to make her rethink ever calling him names. Jun never let anything go, but unlike Kai, who also held a grudge, he didn't spout it out for ages until the person hearing it started wondering when a good time would be to begin suicide or murder.

Then again, it wasn't only Jun that had him in a fowl mood. It was the fact that he had to pull back from his fight with the pale eyed girl–the Hyuga. His mouth almost salivated when the thought of how he had captured her leg easily, just as easily as he would definitely capture those eyes. Those eyes…he must have them. He knew that people were probably after the eyes for their secrets. But he was after them for something more. His blood raced at the thought of all the experiments he could do with them.

Norio would definitely not be in agreement with them, the damn softie. Daiki frowned. Norio was going to become a problem if he kept interfering with his fights. Where the hell did the old man get off in throwing an ancient, iron kunai right at his face just to stop him from using a genjutsu that the man had seen a thousand times? No matter how much he questioned the old man Daiki knew he wasn't going to get an answer. But if Norio ever interfered again…there'd be hell to pay.

Now Kai, that was a man who loved his research almost as much as Daiki. He would most definitely be intrigued in the Byakugan wielding eyes. If he gave Daiki permission to go after them – hell even if he didn't Daiki would still go after them. He prayed that the Hyuga girl, that weakling, would fight him again.

As he walked by particularly close to the cells, a dirty hand reached out and grabbed his pant leg. He stopped, immediately amused. So, one of the little mice still had some spunk left in them, he thought sinisterly. Well, he was going to have to change that soon enough.

"P-please…" came a soft, whimpering voice. It was #076. Oh, she had been a troublesome one when they first caught her. Despite knowing that she was no match for her opponents she struggled against them. Unfortunately for her, all her blows were feather touches, soft caresses against his skin. His blood tingled as she spoke. "What are you going to do to us?" she asked, her voice gaining a bit more strength.

Everyone around them watched with hushed minds and caught breaths. The torches on the side of the dry, stone wall flickered. The orange light danced dangerously across his face. He leaned down and pulled her dirty face roughly to the bars, knowing that in doing so it was draining her energy. Jun had specifically designed the bars for that purpose after all. Should anyone other than his team try to release their lab mice then they would surely and quickly find themselves out of energy. The only downside Daiki could find with the design was that it would leave none of the invaders with enough spirit to fight.

And Daiki loved nothing more than crushing spirits.

#076 winced from the pain of hard metal hitting her face but she kept a slight defiant expression in her eyes that excited Daiki to no end. She had only been caught a week ago and was probably still in denial about her captors' true nature.

"Well, my little apricot," he said, teasing her with the meaning of her name: Kyou, "Why don't you come with me and I'll show you," he said with a smile that could only be described as wicked.

Her eyes fluttered as she struggled to keep them open. She might not have been a ninja, but her cousin was. And truth be told, without Kyou, her cousin might still have had doubts about her true strength and remained a hapless genin her entire life. Kyou was the one that pushed her into pursuing her dream and even going so far as to learn some training techniques herself from an old friend in order to help her baby cousin train. She was damned if she was going to give up now. No matter how much they tried to break her she wouldn't give up.

After all, she thought with a sniff, when the Kazekage came to rescue them how would he feel about his strong people cowering in the face of danger. She had to be strong. It seemed that at the moment she was the only one who could.

Her energy drained away quickly and her eyes drooped. She was terrified; there was no doubt in her mind about that. But she had to remain strong.

Before her eyelids dropped from fatigue, Daiki swore he saw a glare coming from those honey colored eyes. He chuckled darkly, his laugh echoing in the large space and burning the ears of the other captives as they flinched from it. Using a special seal and padlock on the door he opened up the cell. Easily, he flung the unconscious woman over his shoulders and closed the doors with a slam, knowing that the seal would automatically replace itself.

Oh, he chuckled darkly to himself, he was going to have fun.

* * *

**A/N: **

**So I know it's been forever since I last updated, and this is much more of a filler than anything else so I want to apologize for those of you who were expecting a bit more action. **

**For a couple of months I've had part of this chapter written but when I read over it I just didn't know what I wanted to do with it. So, when I finally fiddled around with it, this is what I came up with. **

**I probably won't update regularly, but I'll try my best. **

**Review to scold me or criticize me for my lack of a well defined plot. I know what I want to do but the actual rendering is taking me a while because I am a details kind of person. So while I sort out the details for the next chapter, please tell me how I did on this one. **

**Kyou means "cooperation," "capital," "village," and "apricot" it all depends on how you spell it. **

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	11. Experimentation

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

**Experimentation**

"Long ago when the tailed-beasts roamed this soil–more or less–with no restrictions, they cared not whether their energy was conserved. As they tread, surges of their sinister chakra could be absorbed by their surroundings. It could turn a harmless daffodil into a ten-foot tall carnivorous plant. It could turn a pregnant female into a sort of demon."

Tenten frowned. "Wouldn't chakra that strong burn or poison the individual rather than transform it?"

Tenten knew that if a foreign chakra was to invade your body, your chakra was not compatible with it and the foreign chakra would eventually take over, thus poisoning your body. However, it seemed that that was not the case here and she simply wanted to understand.

Miyu smiled. In her mind, Tenten was sharp as a kunai but there were many things she didn't know.

"You must realize that life has come so far from then. My mother was a scientist who dealt particularly with the anatomy and adaptations of the human body–against her father's wishes of course. She was most intrigued by this notion of using your inner life force to evolve the body. Outside of her village–a village long since extinct–were rumors of a tailed beast habituating themselves in a secluded area. She was pregnant with me when she began taking long-term observations of the Five-tailed Dolphin-Horse beast and how it used its chakra. While it was calm the waves of chakra were practically non-lethal. She kept her distance, of course, should it ever become violent and release deathly chakra. As the beast moved from the vicinity, she did too despite her being two months pregnant with me. She spent literally twenty-four hours observing the beast.

"As I said before, when a tailed-beast would move their chakra would surge into their surroundings. My mother was far enough away to where the surges did not harm her, but rather began changing her molecular being from overexposure. It is similar to ingesting small amounts of poison. Over time your body develops an immunity–it changes, does it not? She had been suffering from severe back pain because of me and when she began spending all her time with the beast she noticed it gone. Its chakra made her stronger."

_Deadlier_, she thought but did not voice. As time progressed, Miyu's mother began to be darkly influenced by the chakras and became the epitome of evil when her emotions got the best of her. Miyu did not voice these thoughts because they were unnecessary and rather private. She loved her mother and did not want to taint her memory by showing her dark side to the shinobi. She was already baring her soul, so to speak, so she wanted to keep something to herself.

"My mother, though she did not pay specific attention to it at the time–more worried about logging her observations than she was about her health–had very special chakras. It was because of her extraordinary chakra that she was able to transform, if you will, rather than burn. They absorbed the demons chakra and molded it for her use."

"And because you were already forming inside of her," Shikamaru noted, "you were able to gain more of the tailed-beast chakras than your mother since you didn't have much of your own yet."

Miyu nodded and smiled. She really liked these shinobis. When she had been forced to tell her previous "team" about where her powers had come from and what ultimately happened to her mother, Kai had practically fallen over in laughter because of the morbid end to the tale. Daiki mocked her and the memory of her late mother. Jun simply held his nose up high and looked down at her as someone who could not even acquire strength on their own but instead relied on a demon. They all demoralized her and made her feel insecure. The only one who had nothing to say except for a sad nod was Norio. However, even he could not prevent the feelings of insecurity that took place within her during her time with her "team."

Looking at the faces in the room, she noticed that they were all trying to rationalize. There was no sympathy. Just as one does not receive sympathy for stating a mathematical equation. These were facts, nothing more nothing less. Although, Miyu had to admit, she could not bring herself to look at Takeshi's face.

It was not that she was ashamed of her past–well, she wasn't ashamed of this part anyways–but just like with the sand siblings she did not want him to view her as an animal or worse. She had grown more attached to him than the sand siblings so she knew that if he did begin to view her as a miscreant demon, she might not be able to keep her emotions in check.

Gaara was especially surprised but years of self-containment had him honing his expression into a thoughtful one. It was strange to meet someone who had demon chakras at her disposal, but probably received none of the backlash as he did when added to the demon chakra was the demon itself. Then again, he thought, it was strange to meet someone more than a hundred years old who didn't look a day over fourteen despite her true age of twenty-three. But he had to wonder, just what did her past have to do with what was happening now in his village?

Everyone had been surprised when she told them that she was hundreds of years old but even more so to find out that she harbored demon chakras with no actual demon inside her. Although now that the Konoha shinobi thought back, it did explain the black chakra that had covered her body just before she fainted and the smell that Kiba's noise would happily never smell again. It also explained the large amount of chakra that Hinata had noticed.

"Okay," Kiba said, voicing his thoughts without really thinking about the way he worded it, "so you're a little demon child. What does that have to do with these guys you supposedly knew?"

Had the situation not been as serious as it was, Temari would have smacked him over the head–hard. Kiba and her brother were seriously in need of behavioral classes. However, there were twenty-six lives on the line. Manners were the least of the sand shinobi's worries.

Gaara was particularly glad that the tracker nin had led the conversation the way he wanted it to.

Miyu shook her head. Yes, she originally did not like the dog boy. But that had been because of her fear at being found out so quickly. Plus the little jibe at how she smelled didn't particularly make him favorable in her eyes either. But she had to hand it to him for guts. Apparently, experiencing the large amount of menacing chakra encompassed in her body did not deter him one bit from voicing his thoughts, as blunt as they came. She admired that in him. It reminded her a bit of how she used to be…

Quickly moving back on topic she said, "I was born with little natural chakra and an obscene amount of demon chakra, as you Konoha shinobi have witnessed first hand. Such as the demons live for an eternity, I too was expected a long life. In my youth I became aware that villagers shied away from me. They too called me "Demon Child" though not as nonchalant as you, Kiba."

Being addressed directly by her made Kiba feel hot. He wasn't blushing…well at any rate he felt embarrassed by the slip of the tongue. He hadn't meant to dredge up bad memories. He was about to apologize but the quick shake of her head had him hold his tongue.

"I do not mean that in a bad way," she explained to him before moving on. "I was not only infused with demon chakra, but I was bestowed with an abnormal ability. You have all seen it first hand."

Takeshi, his voice carefully neutral said, "When you healed Tenten-san and Akamaru, is what you are referring to correct?"

Miyu, still refusing to look at him, nodded. "Yes. The process–" Miyu's right shoulder quickly jerked forward before moving back placidly.

She stayed silent with awe as she quickly scanned her brain for a reason her body involuntarily jerked like that. It could not be because of her bloodline limit. No. Her bloodline limit only made her mind weaker. It had nothing directly to do with her body–though, indirectly was a different story. Could it have been a reaction from the drug she administered a while back? She dismissed that notion. It had been a while since she administered the drug and should any symptoms have occurred they should have happened while she was still being escorted by the Konoha shinobi.

For once in her life she was at a complete loss.

"Miyu-san," Hinata asked softly, noticing that the crimson-haired woman seemed to zone out.

Takeshi suddenly came to full attention as he asked Miyu, "Do you need a medic?" with concern.

At the sound of his voice Miyu zoned back in and shook her head. "I do not believe it to be necessary," she said convincingly to the concerned shinobi.

However, the fact that her right arm felt the need to rise but did not was unnerving. She was sure that she did not command her body to raise her arm. That left a rather frightening question: if she didn't, who did?

* * *

Kai picked up a kunai and, with all the frustration he felt, shoved it into the wall until his hand met the cold stone. In the bright glow from the lone lightbulb above his head, the visible anger on his face to any normal person could have killed them with one glare.

They had been so close. So freaking close! He ran a pale hand through his orange hair.

"Well, let's try again," Norio said coldly.

He must have been disappointed too, Kai thought. And tired, he tacked on as an afterthought. Norio's usual bright gray eyes were darker. His skin looked ashen and Kai was reminded that the procedure took much more out of Norio than it did him. The fact that they had been at it for almost eleven hours straight didn't necessarily help. He narrowed his eyes, pondering the situation and a favorable solution.

He looked at Norio and then shifted his eyes to their current patient. He wasn't dead, but he was pretty damn close. His lips were dry and wrinkly and it was a wonder that they didn't crumble as he opened it to gasp for shallow breaths of cold air that Kai had, just moments before, believed to be stifling.

He took a look at the monitor. The needle only scratched a bumpy line every few seconds. If they kept going with the young civilian, he wouldn't survive and their chances of success would drop (then again, it was never high in the first place).

They had stretched the man's soul pretty far and without a healthy participant they wouldn't be able to reach her again.

Kai held back a sigh and shook his head.

"No, we're going to have to rest for a few hours. I'll get Jun to set Number 3874 into the recovery room," he said, referring to the patient on the table. "What did it feel like?" he asked with a dark sparkle only a mad scientist could achieve.

Norio repressed a groan and a frown. He couldn't show that he absolutely despised being a key part in this particular experiment. The man would live and be able to live a relatively normal life, but there'd always be something off about him. Well, he thought critically, at least he can pass through his kidnapping in the comfort of sleep. The others weren't so lucky.

The metal door to the operating room suddenly burst open and slammed furiously against the wall. Kai and Norio, knowing they were safe from enemies, allowed themselves a flinch. No. 3874 didn't so much as twitch–he was that out of it.

_Daiki_, Norio groaned inwardly. _What did that bastard want now?_

Daiki came in with a large smile on his face and a body–that of a female–slung over his shoulders. Norio closed his eyes and feigned that he had done so out of exhaustion. He was going to start one of his own "Personal Experiments for the Mind." Anyone who went through that was lucky to end up dead. He couldn't help the furrowing of his brow as he thought about what the poor girl was about to endure.

Kai received the scenario with far more excitement and grace.

"Daiki," he exclaimed with a knowing look, "What are you doing with that woman? Oh, since she's unconscious I bet it means you're going to have a bit of fun?" he teased.

Norio busied himself with preparing the patient for delivery to the recovery room in order to better drown out the sickening voices of his comrades.

Daiki set the girl down roughly on the cold floor, only making sure that her head didn't hit the floor unnecessarily. He couldn't afford any head injuries if he wanted her awake for the pain–procedure…the procedure.

His mouth crept up into a sly grin, "You know I like them awake when I'm having fun. Care to join?"

Norio dropped the sheet of papers containing the patient's medical history, well as much as they were able to scare out of him. His hands were shaking uncontrollably and even in the cold temperature of the room his neck felt thick with sweat. He bent down, reigning in his emotions before they uncovered his true feelings of pure disgust. After all, his team was much better off not knowing the full expanse of his feelings towards their carnivorous, evil minds – an evil mind he was ashamed to admit he had had once long ago.

Jun came in, somehow just knowing when he was needed, and began to detach the electrical nodes that measured No. 3874's pulse and brain activity throughout the process. As soon as his swift fingers finished that he began to wheel the patient down the hall towards a hidden room where 13 others were recovering. Norio followed at his heels, eager to get to his room and sleep for an eternity.

A voice stopped him just before his foot could step outside the experimentation room.

"Nori," Kai said, somehow able to retain firmness despite his slight fatigue. "What did it feel like?" he asked again.

Norio knew that he was never going to let him leave unless he was willing to give up information that could have detrimental consequences for…the world – to an extant.

He pursed his lips and forced his slow mind to repeat back what he had felt during the 1.89 seconds he had held contact with Miyu's soul.

"Choked," he said with finality and left the room without a second thought.

Yes, he had felt choked. Overwhelmed and bombarded from the merging of a small part of his soul to that of Miyu's. He received all her memories but he couldn't call them up willingly. For that he was glad. If he was actually able to call upon her memories at will, then Kai would no doubt use that to his advantage.

Norio had to be honest with himself. There were two lab rats in that room: one was No. 3874, and the second one was him.

He began to slow on his path towards his room. His feet dragged and his breathing grew ragged. He felt so constricted. Large hands grasped at his robes and loosened them, trying to free his chest but that didn't seem to help. Ignoring his aching legs, he began running. He had to get to the ventilator. He had to get to the Kagaku Sōnyū and fast.

He ran but he couldn't help stumbling every few feet. His face met the ground a fourth time and when he stood up he was beginning to become disoriented. Choosing to ignore the spinning and revolving walls, he stumbled into his room. He was forever thankful that his tatami mat was only three feet away from the door – though it had felt like an eternity to reach. He fell down front first and rolled over to detach a small needle connected to a tube that was linked to a crystal tube of bright purple and red liquid.

He inserted the needle into his upper arm and pressed a switch on the side of metal frame holding the crystal tube in place. He cringed as the ice cold liquid seeped into his veins at a preset amount. The liquid flared red hot as it flowed through his body. He grit his teeth against the pain. Ants seemed to crawl all over his insides, but the excursion he had done for the last eleven hours had left him drained of energy and after a flash of pain he was out like a light.

* * *

**A/N:**

**Okay, so I'm not sure if this chapter was a little out there but I'm guessing since the Naruto series contains children that can see through wall, and people who control lightening, then a horrible demon past for the World of Naruto doesn't seem like that much of a stretch.**

**But I hope you guys liked this chapter.**

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	12. Clue!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

**Clue!**

"Are you hungry?"

Tenten looked incredulously at the bunraku made up shinobi. "Shouldn't we be patrolling for danger and not a restaurant?"

Miyu had passed out again after delivering her life story, and, without their insider conscience, the shinobi had nothing productive to do. It had been Kankuro's shift to patrol the village and Tenten, after seeing his drawn face, decided that she'd be a good guest and help out. It would also be an opportunity to look at the crime scenes with fresh eyes. In a few hours Shikamaru and Kiba would take over, while Hinata had been permanently assigned to watch over Miyu with alternating partners. Shikamaru had insisted on that particular point – seeing as Miyu had wanted Hinata out of the public eye before for some serious reason, he'd thought she might be in danger here and he wasn't about to have her roaming an unfamiliar city.

So Tenten and Kankuro had been in the shadows a few hours before, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Then, the puppeteer had believed they had a better chance at watching the civilians by walking amongst them.

Kankuro shrugged in answer to her question, and started bumping into her body from the side to lead her over to where large groups of people were gathered around shouting. Tenten's body began curving into a defensive position, thinking that she was going to have to break up a scuffle. Kankuro put a heavy hand on her shoulders and shook his head. Then Tenten heard that people seemed to be shouting orders, and her body relaxed slightly.

"I can't work on an empty stomach," Kankuro griped. "Besides, I'm getting it to go."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Oh, well that excuses it." In sincerity, she trusted him to know what he was doing. After all, this was his country, and not to mention he was the Kazekage's older brother.

_Hmm, how does that work? Shouldn't he be the Kazekage because he's older?_ She wondered. She thought Gaara was doing a great job, but since his father was the Kazekage, then wouldn't the feudal lord look to Kankuro to be the next in line? Well, assuming they were under the law of succession in the Wind Country. She couldn't remember.

"Yes," Kankuro, oblivious to her internal curiosity, smiled. "Yes it does. Hey old man," he shouted above the rest of the people, "six and make it to go."

The people began to quiet down a bit as they stepped back to make room for the shinobi. Tenten thought it was weird, for they seemed only too eager to shove each other to the ground moments before, but she nodded slightly in thanks to a few.

"Oh, Kankuro-sama, how nice to see you again," the owner said in a scruffy voice. "And with company?" he said. His eyebrows covered his eyes completely but he still managed to look surprised. "Would you care for a salad?"

Tenten shrugged. When in Wind Country….

"I'll have the same." She wondered, for a moment, if she was going to regret the decision. However, if she had ordered something out of the norm, well, she was always up for a challenge.

"You were hungry," Kankuro's deep voice commented lightly as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Is that why my stomach was growling?" The shop owner held out six bamboo sticks impaling a light type of meat in both hands. "Thank you," she said gratefully as she accepted both and handed Kankuro his portion.

"Put it on my tab old man," Kankuro yelled out as he pivoted on his feet.

"Mine too," Tenten quickly added as she followed him out into the crowd.

He gave them a raspy chuckle and wave as they departed.

"Hey," Kankuro griped.

"You were the one who just decided to stop in the middle of an assignment."

Kankuro watched her face scrunch with confusion as she studied the meat's texture, smell, and look. Though her face amused him, he debated putting her out of her misery and tell her exactly what she was about to eat.

"That's fine," he said, his voice a bit too nonchalant. "Although, since I paid for your food this could be considered a date."

Tenten looked at him incredulously.

"You put it on a tab – that's hardly considered paying. Besides," she sniffed the meat again, "you're the host, so it's only natural for you to pay."

Hmm…Kankuro wasn't sure if she had just defused his flirting to a fizzle on purpose, or if she was just that naïve. His pride hoped that she really was that she had done it on purpose. If she really was that naïve, that meant that he wasn't a good flirt, and Kankuro liked to think of himself as the Sensei over the mastery of flirting with the opposite sex.

It wasn't that she was his "new conquest of the week" as Temari liked to scornfully say. Those girls were usually civilians – kunoichi were renowned for their temper and Kankuro wasn't looking for that on his nights off. Tenten had a bit of a different style to her – from her clothes to her personality – that Kankuro actually just wanted to get to know her. Of course, if a date ended with a make-out session, he wouldn't be averse to that.

"Its grilled snake," he said as she took a tentative bite.

"I'm sorry – what? What words just came out of your mouth?" Tenten stopped in her tracks. "I'm eating snake?"

Kankuro said nothing as she looked at him with raised eyebrows. Then she shrugged and downed the whole stick in one go.

"I've eaten worse," she offered as an excuse.

Kankuro let out a bark of laughter.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's get to work." They quickly ate their meal, all the while keeping an eye out on their surroundings.

"Did you already investigate the last targeted house?"

"Until our balls were blue," Kankuro said as he led them to the last known crime scene.

"Disturbing," Tenten noted. Then she went back to work. "And you didn't find anything?"

"If we had," Kankuro said a bit indignantly, "you wouldn't be here."

Looking at him now, she could see only the slightest bit of hurt pride. Maybe that was why he wore the make up, she thought, believing to come to a sort of revelation about Suna's puppeteer league, to veil his emotions even more.

"Sorry," she offered in sympathy. If anyone had been kidnapped from her village, whether she knew them or not, she'd find it to be her obligation and duty to bring them back alive. She could only imagine what it felt like to be a literal sitting duck in the desert while an unseen prey plucks off the members of your village one by one. It'd piss her off too. "Can I check it out?" she asked, hoping that it wouldn't offend him.

Kankuro shrugged, trying to get rid of his anger.

He wasn't angry at the Konoha shinobi, he was pissed at himself. That moment when he turned around and another villager had been chosen for the week behind his back made him feel like he didn't deserve to be the head of any kind of league or even a Jounin. But in order to redeem himself, Kankuro know that he had to think rationally about the situation. Otherwise, there would be mistakes made, and at this point in the game they couldn't afford any mistakes.

"Sure. You won't find a thing, and it'll give me a chance to bask in the glow of my favorite atmosphere: failure."

* * *

Hinata's fingers twiddled back and forth as her thoughts grew more and more depressing.

_They told me to stay with Miyu-san because I probably can't be of use to them out there. They probably think I'm weak – I can't even follow simple directions! But Kiba was in danger that time. Still, I'm not really putting my best foot forward here. Oh, I'm really holding them back aren't I? I should just let someone else take this assignment. I'm a liability. _

These thoughts continued to plague her for a long while, until Miyu sat up in her bed and glared daggers at her.

"You are not worthless. A bit insipid in thought, timid in personality, and dainty in character." Hinata slumped even more at the degrading words. They were not the kind of words a shinobi wanted to hear. "However," Miyu enunciated, "you are a good fighter and you have a strong sense of moral duty. The latter is what makes you such a powerful kunoichi. The rest helps."

Hinata smiled, and then another thought came to her mind.

"How did you know what I was thinking?"

Miyu stared blankly at her, as if she didn't understand the question. For a long moment she stared at Hinata, making her grow uncomfortable under such a dead gaze.

When Miyu spoke again, it startled Hinata so much that she almost fell out of her chair in the corner or the room. "It is hardly a difficult task. In accordance to being insipid in thought is that your facial characteristics make up for that. You looked as if you were debasing yourself, and I wanted to tell you that it was not so."

Hinata smiled in gratitude.

"Thank–" Miyu fell back on the bed with a thud. Hinata rushed over to see what was wrong this time, only to find out that Miyu had gone back to sleep. Quietly, she thanked Miyu-san for her kind words and went back to her corner, determined to keep a watch out for her as a skilled shinobi would.

* * *

After the third house Tenten was ready to give up looking for clues. There were none to be found in any of the houses! How these shinobi didn't lose their marbles the first day was a testament to their sainthood.

"Not to say I told you so…but I told you so."

It also didn't help that Kankuro was as snarky as they came. He had looked around, poked and prodded along with her but even she could feel that something wasn't right with him. He looked anxious to leave. Just as they were about to leave the third house, Tenten could feel that something was off. She stopped in her tracks and headed back to the house.

"Whoa, hey what're you doing?" Kankuro asked.

Tenten went under the caution tape and headed straight for the living room. She glanced around, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what it was that she was trying to find. Her heart rate accelerated as her frustration with herself grew. Something dark and wise gnawed at her mind as if trying to erase a memory while at the same time trying to help her recover it.

"I'm not sure…" she began. In her mind's eye, all she saw was a piece of furniture. However, the image was too enlarged for her to depict exactly what kind of furniture it was. All she saw were bits and grains of wood – WOOD! This was the desert! There should have been stone or mesa furnishings, but all the houses that they'd been too, had some sort of decorations made out of wood.

"Kankuro, is it uncommon for a home to have wood furnishings in Suna?"

He raised his eyebrow, wondering where her train of thought was coming from and going to. He hedged, "Not really. We import tons of the stuff every year to make buildings, repair old ones, make coffee tables, and the puppeteer regime uses Mother Nature's lumber like crazy. Why?" He wasn't too giddy about sharing intimate details about his village with hers, but then again it wasn't really that big of a secret.

Tenten frowned. Had her hunch been wrong? She tapped her foot. No, there was something else – something she was missing.

Walking with determination towards the only table in the house made of wood, she studied the surface of it intently. When she could see nothing out of the ordinary there, she moved on to each leg, being sure to take her time with it.

No, the legs were clean. She flipped the table over to study the underside, and almost immediately her eyes caught the smallest hint of a dark ink spot in the dark wood. She didn't touch it, but bent down to examine it carefully.

She cursed silently to herself, making sure that Kankuro wouldn't overhear. There was just something about cussing in front of people that irked her.

"I think I found something."

Kankuro blanched and looked at the shinobi bending down. Had she really just found something inside a house that Suna's shinobi's already deemed held nothing? He wasn't quite sure how to feel about that, but sensing her urgency, he disregarded his thoughts and bent down to look at what she was pointing at.

"What is it?" he asked, looking at the ink spot with wonder.

Tenten bit her lip. It looked like an ink spot, but upon further inspection she had realized that it was dried blood carved into the wood like a character.

"I don't know, but we have to wake up Miyu for this." He looked up, curiously at her and she shook her head. She didn't have the answers, but a certain demon child would.

**A/N:**

**Hey guys, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter. **

**I wonder if my pacing for this story is going okay. So if anyone thinks that my story is moving waaaaaaay too slow, please tell me. I'm trying to set up the stage for other stuff but I feel like it might be a bit too slow. **

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	13. Lead

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

* * *

**Lead**

Kyou's vision gradually faded from black into a fuzzy, grainy picture of the world. All she could see were shadows. Her head flowed from side to side, trying to unscramble her brain. Kami, she felt so tired! She was exhausted to the bone marrow, and her muscles felt so heavy that it'd take a forklift to move them an inch.

"Oh, I see my little lab mouse is waking up," said a muffled, mocking voice from everywhere and nowhere. "Good, because I love live experimentations. Who has time to wait for the results when you could view them right then and there?"

Was he even talking to her?

She opened her mouth, her voice just barely coming out a whisper. "…like hearing…yourself talk." It hurt to speak as her chest felt like it was being pressed on by a hundred ton weight.

A harrowing laugh resonated through to her tired body, jolting her eyes open. As she focused on the dark colored ceiling, a few shapes began forming. Above her was a light that had yet to be turned –

She quickly shut her eyes as he flicked on the stupid, bright overhead light. Was he reading her mind, or did he just decide to cause her pain? Unfortunately for Kyou, the last option was a high possibility.

"No my dear," he tssk-ed. "It's time for you to wake up."

She suddenly felt a sharp point jab into her chest, seeming to rip away her tissues as it entered. Shooting up from her place on the hospital cot, she fidgeted to find a comfortable position. From the injection, came a hot-white liquid, which burned her chest and caused her to start coughing in order to regain her breath. Her eyes teared up as she continued to implore her lungs to begin working again for an indefinite time.

Daiki watched her with amusement. "Oh, stop being such a little baby apricot. It was just a little injection." He tossed the needle containing this week's revitalizing liquid into a metal bowl.

Though she must have been feeling like she was burning alive, Daiki had to admit that the girl was a fighter, and was probably the one-in-a-million person who could stand what he was about to do. As she coughed, she shot him a rather vulgar sign, which only produced a malignant smile on his baby face.

"Are you quite finished?" he asked passively, only to be rewarded with more vulgar signs that jumped up and down with her fit. He moved around her, poised his palm in the air, and struck her back at a certain angle with a forceful blow that sent her reeling from the cot onto the floor.

She cried out as her arms, too tired to move, were pinned underneath her body and her face shoved harshly into the ground. Somehow being able to maintain rational thought, she did a quick assessment of her new injuries, just like she'd taught her baby cousin, a ninja, how to do. She had a chipped tooth and had bitten off a good chunk of skin from her cheek, which she promptly spit out. The skin on the side of her face was definitely going to be brushed, and her wrists might have been sprained from the odd position they were in as they collided harshly onto the floor with her weight on top of them.

Having no energy to push herself up, she settled for turning to her side.

"A glass of water would have been nice," she croaked; her throat was immensely dry in the cool room.

Daiki laughed again. "You're not really in the position to make suggestions." He leaned down and patted her rear as if scolding a child. "It's about time you learned who is in charge my feisty little rat."

As Daiki walked closer to her, she used all her strength to spit on his sandals. She knew that she must have looked like she'd just lost a fight with a steam roller as a dribble of saliva traveled across her chin, but what was important was not how she looked, but how much she could fight.

He watched her, making his own observations. The last time he'd injected someone with the liquid, they hadn't been able to roll themselves over. #076 managed to at least roll over to her side, though he attributed a small part of that to the fact that she seemed absolutely set on defying him in every way possible. The spit on his sandals was proof.

However, the formula still wasn't right. He was conducting this experiment to ultimately aid his team. They were always reminded of their unusual circumstances by pains in their chest and fatigue in their bodies and minds. While the Kagaku Sōnyū was helping them with the symptoms, it didn't get rid of the disease endless suspension into the ages had caused on their bodies. They needed something stronger, and that was what Daiki wanted to find.

And an unwilling test subject was just not going to fly, no matter how much fun she was. He needed compliance, and he was going to get it.

A dark aura permeated the room so suddenly she had no time to react before her capture picked her up by her throat. He threw her onto the hospital cot and wasted no time in restraining her.

The only thing she could do was glare daggers at him as she willed herself for the oncoming pain which would be punishment for all the insults.

_Kazekage_, she thought, _I'll be strong for you. So please…hurry_.

* * *

Gaara poured over the paperwork asking for the approval of a new building which would house imported devices for the academy to use in their teaching methods. If he approved, the cost would be much less because they would have to buy the supplies in bulk and they'd get a pretty good discount. However, should the weapons need repair they would be able to charge exuberantly high prices because they would have monopolized the market on repair of foreign goods.

For reasons such as this, he despised the job of Kazekage. For cripe's sake he had a lot more important things to take care of, however he'd already asked for an extended deadline on it five times, and, seeing as Miyu was out of commission for the time being, he had wanted to get it out of his way.

He was about to deny his approval (though it could still be erected if they had the correct city clearance; his signature would just prove that it was a high quality store but Gaara had no interest in it) when his door slammed open.

He raised his nonexistent eyebrows, small shadows taking their place.

Kankuro walked with quick legs over to his desk, while Tenten, the kunoichi whom he had sent out with his brother earlier looked like she'd just smelled something bad.

"And the reason you refused to knock was…?"

Kankuro dismissed his little brother's annoyance with a wave, which surprised Gaara. He'd at least say he was sorry or that he'd be sure to do it next time, but it seemed that whatever had caused him to slam the door open in the first place was too urgent to disturb with formalities.

"We think we found something, but we need you there when we ask Miyu what it is. We'll need to get her out of house arrest for this."

Gaara frowned. "We swore to protect her providing that she indulge whatever information she knows."

Kankuro shot down the impulse to grab his collar and shake him like he would to anyone else who wasn't listening. He'd been rude enough.

"Yes, and we can still keep an eye on her there, but it's important that she be there."

"What is that you've found?" Gaara asked, feeling something akin to relief and excitement settle in his chest.

"We aren't sure. Tenten thinks she heard Miyu mention something like it before."

Gaara glanced at Tenten who stiffened and nodded. "Hai, but even if it is nothing I'd just like a confirmation from an expert."

The Kazekage's face pulled into a frown. "I wasn't aware that Miyu-san was an expert in anything." _Besides sleeping and passing out_.

Tenten's lips pulled up into a sad smile. "She's an expert at traps. This looks like it used one of the methods she described but the symbol…I can't make it out."

Gaara nodded and made a quick decision. "We shouldn't waste time. I want both of you to guard her from the back, Temari and I will take the front. Diamond formation."

They quickly leapt from there and towards the sand siblings' house. When they arrived, Tenten paled at the site of their house. She'd been there before but its enormous size still unnerved her. She often wondered why the siblings preferred to live in an apartment than their own family quarters. Tenten, with the aid of the third Hokage, had been able to keep her family home when she'd started going out on missions and gaining a profit. She honestly couldn't picture herself anywhere but in that house.

They moved quickly up the steps and into a practically hidden hallway behind a door where they'd put Miyu.

Rikujo Takeshi, who had replaced Temari a few hours ago so that she could catch up on some sleep, felt a disturbance right about the time Gaara, Kankuro and Tenten had entered within a half mile radius around the house. He knew they were coming and knew that it was them from their familiar chakra, but he'd been conditioned since practically birth to be on the alert, even if the ones arriving were comrades.

When they entered the hallway, Takeshi tensed for something. By the sounds of their steps they were in a hurry and didn't care who knew it.

"Kazekage-sama," he called out respectively. "Kankuro-sama, Tenten-san, is there something wrong?"

"You are relieved Rikujo-san," Gaara coldly said as he stood in front of the tall, blonde man, his hair only serving to bring his height up to Takeshi's chest.

His face impassive, Takeshi hesitated for a moment before following orders reluctantly. If they had found something then he really wanted to know what was going on; maybe he could even help out. However, he had enough common sense not to let his feelings cloud his judgment. If the Kazekage wished him to be relieved, he would only question it with a glance.

Every step he took away from Miyu killed him, but he also felt relief. Miyu had been so close, yet he could not touch her for Hyuga-sama had been assigned to watch her indefinitely. His fingers tingled and his heart ached to touch her, to run his hands through her silky hair, and to kiss those perfect lips.

No! He berated himself. Now was not the time to think about Miyu's succubus character. Relieved, he soon set out to patrol the village and keep a watch on his family – the citizens. There'd come a time to think about her, but part of being in Suna's Black Ops was that he learned how to shove pensive thoughts aside for more pressing matters. He could always return to them later.

Hinata had activated her Byakugan when she heard Takeshi slide his nail rapidly against the door, producing the bare minimum of sounds. She'd seen Tenten trail behind two thirds of the sand siblings with a serious look on her usual carefree face. There was no doubt in her mind that it was truly her comrades coming up the stone steps, but their walk – determined and incessant – sparked a thread of panic through her. Just what had they found?

She debated for a moment whether or not to wake up Miyu, but it seemed that the scarlet haired girl was well on her way to waking up.

Miyu's mind was plagued with thoughts of wood, sand, and Konoha. They scratched her mind with their sharp corners and soon she was feeling the onslaught of a migraine. Not fully awake, but not fully asleep, she fidgeted in order to find a more comfortable spot that wouldn't put so much pressure on her throbbing head.

Then she felt remnants of lost time speed through her mind and reverberate against her skull. A dark dusty library, filled with age old texts was quickly replaced by needles – new and used – which was replaced with a memory of breathtaking pain that left her body useless, broken.

When Gaara entered, the first thing he noticed was that Hinata had stood up in a defensive position, which he vaguely commended her for. The second was that Miyu was in some sort of eclectically hysterical state.

Her breath came quick until it all but slowed, and then she would inhale sharply as if drowning and taking her last breath of sweet air. Her pale hands gripped her sides, the tops of her knees, her upper arms, and her face as if trying to physically force out some sort of pain. Her legs jerked on the bed, stretching and then contracting just as rapidly.

"Hinata, what is going on?" Gaara asked.

Said kunoichi, along with Kankuro and Tenten, was in a state of shock as well. They didn't know what to do and Tenten wished that the Kazekage hadn't relieved Takeshi. At least he was a doctor, and Tenten doubted that whatever pomade Hinata had would relieve whatever Miyu was feeling.

Miyu scrambled to get off from the bed but the covers seemed to be purposely twisting themselves around her legs to impede her process. From all the twisting and jerking, she had inched closer to the bed. One final jerk caused her to fall on the floor, the physical pain knocking her out of the prison her mind had created and back to the real world.

She pushed herself up with her hands to better control her erratic lungs as they tried to capture sweet air. Her eyes were unfocused and her brain infallibly blank. Quick as a switch she calmed down her breathing, employing a tactic she used often in the past. If she focused her chakra towards her lungs, expanding them, they were able to fill up with air which fooled her body into thinking that it had not just been in the run for its life.

Her body returned to normal, and she managed to rest her back against the bed frame with her eyes on the ceiling.

"Sorry," she sighed. "Do not ask me what was happening for I cannot give you an adequate answer."

"You mean you don't know why you were having a fit?" Tenten asked.

Miyu closed her eyes and broken visions danced along the edges of her memory, slipping into her view every few seconds.

"I believe I may have been experiencing memories of my past life…but do not quote me on that."

Everyone frowned. Just what in the world had happened in her past life to cause such a frenzied nightmare that went as far as taking a hold of her limbs? They probably didn't want to know.

"Was there anything that could be of use to us?" Gaara flatly asked.

Miyu thought for a second before shaking her head. "No."

The only purpose of the unwanted memories was to torture and tease her mind to the brink of insanity. She could feel the cold fingers of the monster inside her clawing its way from the depths of her mind and soul, wanting to devour her entirely. She was just barely able to hold it back.

Seeing as they were going to get no more useful answers from Miyu, Gaara decided to proceed with what they had discovered.

"Miyu–san," Gaara said with an authority that demanded attention. "When Tenten–san and Kankuro were patrolling the village they entered the house of one of the recent victims they discovered something that needs to be confirmed by you. They say that it resembles some sort of trap."

Miyu's head immediately snapped to attention, all plaguing thoughts gone from her mind.

"Trap?"

* * *

**A/N: **

**Again a filler, I'll try to add some more action in here. Although I've noticed that I enjoy writing evil minds rather than good ones. Strange. **

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	14. Secrets of Time

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

**Secrets of Time**

She ran her slender, ivory fingers around the little engraving.

"It seems like it resembles my trap to the fullest extent…but this is not a symbol I have used in all my years," Miyu informed all seven ninja in the small room. They had checked all the targeted households and found a similar symbol carved on all wooden furnishings that the victims were said to be near when they disappeared. "It also does not appear to employ its use when a lifeform steps within its range," she noted.

_And you've had a lot of years_, Kiba thought vaguely. He was getting antsy for Miyu to get to the part where she unveils the enemy's plan, they fight, they win and blah, blah, blah.

Gaara's mind was racked with thoughts that refused to string together to make sense. How were the Mayonaka Yajuu able to get into every one of these houses in order to plant this symbol? Even then, why would they go through the trouble kidnapping the citizens in a roundabout way? It didn't make any sense. Even if they were the most arrogant sons of guns in the world, their roundabout way was too troublesome. So the questioned remained: how were they able to mark every piece of furniture without being noticed?

"From where do you receive your wood?" Miyu-san asked the Sand Sibling's in general.

"From the Land of–" Temari began to answer before Miyu cut her off. She bit her tongue to keep from saying something about the rude gesture. She sighed silently to herself, I really need some sleep. Kankuro had been sent to wake her up, knowing that if she was not included in something at first it would be bad luck for everyone later on.

"No, I do not mean the country from whence it came. I will reiterate: from where do you receive your wooden furnishings like this table?"

"Do you mean a store?" Kankuro sighed.

Miyu narrowed her eyes at the patronization. "Yes," she agreed with sharply.

Kankuro twitched and thought of an apology but didn't get a chance to before others took up a line of questions.

"You think that they marked the furniture instead of the civilians?" Tenten asked.

"If they did that, then they must have known that the civilians were buying the marked furniture. But there was no guarantee. Why take that risk?" Temari replied.

"What if they just didn't care?" Shikamaru said, effectively cutting into Tenten and Temari's conversation. "Miyu-san said it herself: they are arrogant and flirt with the uncertain. However, that's as far as my analysis can go until we figure out what that symbol means."

Miyu traced around it again, racing through her memories of a past life. "Pillbug…" she whispered to herself. "It means Pillbug," she said a little louder.

"What does that mean?" Kiba wondered, walking closer to the table.

"They're what we know as roly-poly bugs. You know, you touch them and they curl up into a ball," Shikamaru provided.

Everyone nodded in understanding. While roly-poly bugs didn't live in the desert, the Sand Siblings had encountered them on many nights in other countries when they camped on damp ground.

"I'm guessing the pillbug symbol is a representation for something else," Shikamaru stated towards Miyu.

"My only guess is that it means the symbol, when activated, allows them to hide in plain site or allows them to take their victim as if sucked into a time warp that would regurgitate them into their lair."

_Of course_, Kiba couldn't help a scathing thought pass quickly through his head, _because when I think of roly-polies I think a disturbance in the space-time continuum_. He was promptly back to business though. He assumed that Miyu must have had her own code for these symbols way back to the beginning of time, so he wouldn't question it…that much.

"Which is where?" Gaara followed up right after her question.

Miyu shot him a reproachful look from which he had trouble keeping. "I have said I do not remember. Do not contribute to the sad invention of redundancy any further." She didn't need him to point out the flaws in her memory.

She'd woken up groggy, her eyes seemed to be smoldered shut, and her sense of direction was worse for wear. Her hands were encased in brittle metal, from which she promptly broke with a strength she hadn't known she possessed. For a good long while she lay on the ground - after getting rid of the flaccid chains around her ankles and other hand - thinking about actually getting up and running out. Then she felt something that she hadn't felt in a long time: chakra. She didn't know this particular chakra signature, which could only mean that someone had stumbled upon their hideout and woken them up.

She didn't know how long she lay on the dusty ground, but it was long enough to hear plans a cookin' for some more experimentation. She hadn't heard the details, but whatever Kai and Daiki were planning to do would definitely not be considered humanitarian.

Miyu, afraid of what they would have her do, ran, her veins wild with adrenaline, towards the nearest exit she could feel. Her friend, the wind, guided her through the stuffy, dusty passageways and into the fiery dessert where she sought out help.

Thus leading up to where they were now. She had already reprimanded herself for running away with no useful information. There wasn't much she could do to fix that, but she could offer her assistance in taking back their citizens.

"Tenten-san," Gaara called out, his mind going into immediate mission mode. Tenten, who had been admiring a small ceramic dragon during their brief lapse into silence stood at attention.

"Hai."

"You and Kankuro will go back to the interrogation room where Temari left a scroll. We recovered a weapon from the battlefield and I need you to ascertain what it is and where it came from. If you have a lead then Kankuro will accompany you wherever you need to go. He is also skilled in weaponry and may be of use to you."

That was probably the most Tenten had ever heard out of him that wasn't followed by hysterical laughter. Quickly, she set out for the interrogation room, the Kazekage's brother by her side.

* * *

"Well forge a fire and smack me with a sword," Tenten exclaimed, forgetting that there was another person there with her. On occasions she had these silly outbursts, which she promptly blamed on Guy and Lee and their never ending shouts of youth and blossoms and such. One just couldn't help but feel left out if they didn't come up with something overly creepy as well. Anyone but Neji in any case, although there was that one time when he said, "Holy Hippos," when she'd chucked a stuffed hippo at him in retaliation for waking her up and telling her that the Hokage had a mission for them. However, she promised that she'd keep that outburst a secret.

Kankuro looked at her. "I'd rather not…I mean unless you like that kind of stuff that's cool with me." He held his palms up in innocence, but the smirk said otherwise.

She thought back to what she said, knowing how it would sound to a complete stranger (heck she didn't even say that kind of stuff around her friends) and smacked a hand over her mouth. Scratching the back of her head, she offered him a sheepish smile which he returned, chuckling at her random outburst.

"Ha…yeah…disregard any strange thing that comes out of my mouth. I was just surprised," she lamely explained.

In the interrogation room, Kankuro had produced the weapon that was left on the battlefield a few days ago. Normally, he would have immediately gone to the best known weapon's specialist in Suna, but the less people involved the better. There was still the issue of the unknown man who had shown up on the battlefield. Privacy was of the utmost importance to them.

Now it looked like he was finally getting lucky. He hadn't been able to figure out what sort of weapon the one Tenten was currently admiring was but it seemed that she had.

"So what do we have Ms. Weapon Specialist?" Kankuro asked eagerly.

Tenten smiled at the title and held the iron bar out to Kankuro, sharp side pointed at his chest.

"What we have here my good sir is something that is not easy to find. In fact, no one makes these anymore – well no one you know anyways." She balanced it precariously on her fingers, using the blunt side of course. "It's a bo-shuriken. These come in nail form, needle form, knife form, spear, and pine-needle form. They're like senbons, but you have to be a master at throwing these and that art is not something that's taught in ninja schools. You have to find a master and that's a difficult task. I mean, the art of the shuriken is technically a secretive art form, but you know those hira-shuriken we use? The ones that look like a star?

"When academies were first starting out for the ninja profession there was a huge debate over teaching the use of shuriken. Ultimately, there was a consensus that all ninja should have at least a few shuriken and know how to yield them if their other weapons failed or to help them out. But it was debated because it was so secretive. Usually only fathers passed it on to their sons or daughters and that art form stayed within the family. Obviously we are all about the shurikens now, but the only place you can get these are if you know someone."

"I take it you aren't called Konoha's Weapons Mistress for no reason," he said, referring to her babbling over the weapon.

She gave him another sheepish smile. "Ha ha, guess so. Sorry I get like that sometimes. Neji gets so annoyed at me when it happens," she laughed.

Neji refused to be brought along with her to any sort of weapons store because he knew he'd never make it back home at a reasonable hour. Tenten would spend hours inspecting every piece of a weapon with a fine-toothed comb. If one of them wasn't up to standards she'd tell the owner of the store and demand that the product be taken off the shelf. Currently, the owner had gotten so tired of her complaints that she was no longer allowed inside the store and had to do all her ordering through someone else seeing as how he also refused to pick up the phone when she rang.

"That's your teammate?" Kankuro asked, taking the bo-shuriken from her small hands and examining it carefully.

"Yeah. The pretty Hyuga boy along with my two clones in the green jumpsuits."

Kankuro nodded. He knew which ones she was talking about. While he had a hard time remembering her at first, he knew that it was because of her team that Gaara – after being caught by the Akatsuki – was able to be rescued as quickly as he was. If not for them they wouldn't have found his body for days. His eyed darkened to coal as he accidentally let his rage trickle through. Quickly, so as not to freak out the kunoichi, he bottled it back up. He couldn't rest until all members of the Akatsuki paid for their crimes in blood.

"I remember. Good fighters – all of you." His nimble fingers came across an engraving on the side near the blunt end of the bo-shuriken. "What's this?" he asked, giving it back to Tenten and showing her where the engraving was.

Tenten's face, which had been humbled and proud when he made his compliment, darkened so suddenly that he took a step back.

This had to be a joke. A malevolent joke. But a joke nonetheless. Her mind refused to believe that the engraving on the side of the bo-shuriken was truly her own uncle's. It couldn't be. He had died years ago, as had her parents. The only other family that she knew she had was the main family in the Land of Mist. Her parents separated from them for their own reasons but there was absolutely no way in hell that this was her family's symbol.

"What does it look like to you?" she asked gravely.

Kankuro took it back and looked at the engraving once more. "Isn't that a dragon?"

Before Tenten could explode from the confirmation, she took stock of the situation as the kunoichi in her would. Taking back the bo-shuriken, she inspected it more thoroughly. There were chipped off pieces here and there, and what looked to be bloodstains covering almost every inch of it. The small dragon however similar it was to her Uncle's own symbol, seemed to have horns – an attribute that her Uncle's had not had. This weapon, no matter how recently it had been used, was ancient. She sighed in relief.

Kankuro, feeling that she was suffering some sort of internal battle, watched her warily. When she sighed, he put a heavy hand on her shoulders.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

Tenten was silent, her pink lips set thin against her tanned skin. She knew that she probably wouldn't tell him everything, but some of what she'd uncovered pertained to their situation in Suna.

"I need to go back home."

"Oh…um, are you abandoning this mission?" Kankuro asked with surprise and uncertainty creeping into his tone. She didn't look like the type to abandon a mission, but one never knew. If she was, he was prepared to write a not so eloquent letter to the Hokage about her. After all, she was here to help them. Where'd she get off running away? When she offered her explanation, Kankuro rubbed his face, smearing a bit of his paint, and knew that he had to get some sleep soon or the next thing he knew he'd be accusing everyone of something or other, whether they were guilty of it or not.

Tenten smiled and shook her head. "No. There are some books back home that I need to pore over." She held up the bo-shuriken. "This is my family symbol."

* * *

With Kyou no longer able to keep her eyes open, Daiki had wheeled her to the recovery room. He honestly thought that she would be stronger than that, but he had gained some important information.

She had lasted longer than most, a full two days. Now, he could see that he was heading in the right direction with his serum, but there was something more he needed to add. He plunged a needle into the crook of her arm where her median cubital vein was located. If she'd been conscious, she would be in an extreme amount of pain at the rough matter through which he obtained her blood. She was sleeping now and wouldn't wake up for a while.

Jun was walking through the hallway and knocked on the door. Without receiving an answer, he entered. Now when some people enter a room full of sleeping humans who looked like they'd been starved for years, they experience what is called sympathy. Not Jun. He didn't even seem to notice them.

"Daiki, wanna train?"

He'd already asked Norio and Kai but they were too busy using another body to try to get in touch with Miyu's soul. He wouldn't have wanted to work with Norio anyways – he was the biggest pansy Jun had ever encountered. Kai would have been fun to train with if he wasn't so busy plotting revenge. As luck would have it, the brat wasn't with them anymore so he couldn't bully her into training with him.

Being cut from the same wimpy cloth as Norio, she'd protect herself with her wind affinity, but even if Jun was being merciful, she couldn't hold it for long. The bouts of insanity she had been prone to long ago would grip her mind and leave her body free to attack. And attack he did. She needed a good beating every now and again to remind her who was in charge.

Now that he had no one to bully, the only person he could turn to was Daiki. Daiki was okay, but he was a bit too mad scientist for Jun's taste. Good with weapons though he had to admit.

Daiki shook his head. "No. Go find someone your size to play with."

Jun took the comment in stride. There was no doubt that Daiki could trap him in a genjutsu faster than he could yell, "say that to my face." So he resolved to suppress his anger until they fought those kids again – and killed them.

"When's _he_ getting here?" Jun asked. Maybe he hadn't run out of options yet.

Daiki, having sucked her arm almost dry, pulled out the needle and placed a bandage on her arm.

"Hook her up to the IV," he ordered Jun to do. They needed to keep their bodies nourished, if only for the fact that Daiki tended to recycle lab rats. "He actually came by a bit later and told me that a little birdie seems to have found our symbol."

Jun raised his eyebrows. "Well took her long enough." It had been an absolute bitch to install that little symbol into every wooden furnishing from that store in Suna's belly. Jun had actually broken in there not long ago, but it still felt like it had taken Miyu an eternity to figure it out. Age obviously made her stupider.

Daiki chuckled darkly. "Well now I must go and make sure that a certain someone pays her a visit."

Jun scrunched his eyebrows, wondering who that someone was. When Daiki looked at him still searching for the answer, he sighed.

"Shiu, Jun. It's Shiu."

Jun's eyes widened in surprise. Then he smiled darkly and went off to train by himself, wondering if Daiki would allow him to accompany him. He couldn't wait to see the distraught look on Miyu's face. Oh, today was a good day.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	15. Shiu

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

**Shiu**

The rest of the team that had not been sent to the wood furnishing stores in Suna (mainly everyone but Temari – since after she finished that all she had to do was report and fall back asleep) was busy reeling in the information that something was going on here. They had been walking behind Miyu-san, who had donned her dark cloak when Gaara, who was directly behind her, bumped into her unmoving body from behind. It felt like running into a rock and he had to quickly catch himself.

"Miyu-san?" he asked, flustered at the sheer dead weight of the girl.

Shikamaru, Kiba and Hinata looked concerned. Was this another one of those fits waiting to happen? Hinata worried.

Then Akamaru started to whine. Kiba was immediately on alert – thinking that maybe an enemy was lurking near – and a chain reaction followed among the rest of them.

Miyu heard none of them. She'd been looking around carelessly when her eyes registered what her mind refused to see. It couldn't have been him. Swallowing a heavy lump in her throat she plodded on, sure that she was only seeing things – actually, it wouldn't be the first time that was the case. Then she saw him again, his silver hair in a braid down his back tied with a green ribbon had just rounded the corner into a dark alley.

There was barely any activity in the streets, the day beginning to lose its shine.

Her heart was clenched and she hadn't even known that she stopped breathing long ago until her lungs were clamoring for air and her head became woozy. After recovering her breath, her legs began to move without her consent. Images of laughter, even while they starved, and warmth flitted through her head, inviting her to leave reality for the much more pleasant incubate that was her mind.

She could hear his laughter sounding through the shaded streets of Suna and it tugged on her heartstrings. Oh Kami she'd missed him so much! A small part of her mind was warning her against something, but she was too happy and exhilarated to pay it any attention.

In a moment she could only describe as an out-of-mind experience, she realized that the darkness caged in her mind was leaking out. In her moment of joy, she let it, forgetful of the consequences.

Her feet pounded the hardened sand and her hood flew back. Had she been in the right state of mind she would have used the wind to pick up her speed. That was how she'd traveled for so long, even through the smaller distances. But all the training she had once had flew out of her mind in the moments she blindly followed her little brother.

Her heart sounded like thunder, a sound that she hadn't heard from it for a long time. She couldn't believe that it was really Shiu! Her baby brother. She could still remember when they camped out in caves, eating the fruits of their stolen goods under the remnants of a warm fire. Afterwards they would look up at the stars and Miyu would tell him the most amazing stories (since otherwise he would refuse to sleep). The memories brought a smile to her small face and churned another feeling, bubbling up within her.

She laughed in a way she hadn't laughed in a while – with happiness. She'd forgotten how effervescent he had made her feel. Never had he condemned her for being a demon child. In fact, he tried to protect her from the onslaught of their villagers – not that he ever significantly succeeded much to his chagrine. When they pelted her with rocks, grapes, tomatoes, nails, shoes and whatever else they could find when she got too close to them, she just took it all in, knowing that it was their fear of the unknown that drove them to this.

It was because of their pelting that she learned to dodge like a pro even before she was trained as a shinobi by the daimyo's decree when she was but seven. She promised to go through the training provided that her brother was able to stay in shinobi housing and away from the ninja training.

Then Kai, her instructor, had developed an interest in her and from there it was all downhill.

_Where'd he go?_ She thought frantically when she turned a corner and lost sight of him.

Her head whipped around at blinding velocity until she spotted him on top of a building, seeming to wait for her. She jumped up almost desperately. When she landed, gracefully, on the roof, the sight that greeted her was more than she could take.

Shiu was turned around, facing the Kazekage building shining in the distant. His long hair seemed to sway even with no wind surrounding them. She pulled back her cloak.

Her voice was small, hopeful, and desperate, "Shiu?"

As soon as she heard the sound of her own voice, she realized that she was under a genjutsu. Shiu was dead; she'd watched him die herself. There was no way in hell or heaven that he was alive, though the thought of her own circumstances sort of parodied that statement – she wasn't too fixated on the particulars at the moment.

The monster that had been leaking out of its prison licked hot flames across her cheeks, trembled her fingers, and weakened her legs. Her fists were clenched so tight that her nails drew blood that ran down her palm, past her fingers, and onto the stucco roof. With pure will she managed to hold the beast at bay – barely. She had to stubbornly remind herself that she was on top of an apartment building. Innocent civilians were at risk and not wanting to cause Ga–kun anymore reasons to distrust her, she put up a wall between her mind and the beast.

It wasn't the strongest wall, but it would do until she calmed down.

Her little brother turned around. His head lolled to one side, as if he was nothing more than a rag doll with no support in his neck. Then he smiled. It was not the smile she once knew – tender, pure, and joyful. This one was a blasphemy to his memory with the way it curled at the edges in a sinister fashion.

His once dull amber eyes were now opaque coal. She could see her own livid expression in them.

"I'll see you soon," he said in a voice not his own.

When he vanished into smoke, Miyu was no longer concerned about the welfare of anyone. All emotion that took over her said one thing, _kill Daiki_.

The rest of the shinobi were able to reach her before she moved.

"Miyu-san," Shikamaru called out. "What did you see?"

Her shaking was visible. Akamaru and Kiba both shrunk back holding their noses.

"Don't get near her," he warned. "She's mad as a bat out of hell right now and I do not think she is above ripping us in two if her chakra's anything to go by."

The stench of wrath swirled around her, wisps of chakra flowed loose from her body's system. They looked poisonous.

Akamaru yipped and Kiba turned his head to his companion. "Don't do it boy," Kiba pleaded. He couldn't stand it if Akamaru got hurt while on his watch – again.

Regarding his master, Akamaru pounced in place needing for Miyu to listen to him.

Sensing a tense atmosphere, Gaara opened up his sand gourd, ready for anything that Miyu was about to do. The room they were standing above was the storage room, so thankfully there would be no civilian casualties just yet. Gaara felt the urgent need to get away from civilization and have this fight in the desert.

"Shikamaru," he said, his tone serious.

The leader of the Konoha shinobi nodded and formed the seal for his shadow possession jutsu. Better to be safe than sorry, he felt.

Had the ninja been paying attention, they would have noticed that her chakra had taken on a life of its own, the wisps mixing with her blood on the floor. The chakra swirled the blood to form a symbol.

Miyu had closed her eyes, letting instinct take over. She could feel _his_ revolting chakra to her right, just barely. As soon as she confirmed it, the monster was unleashed. She left the building with a boom, her speed breaking the sound barrier. There was no thought, just the feeling that she needed something tough to sink her teeth into before she broke.

The part of the building that she had been standing on groaned as she left it.

Shikamaru felt his jutsu break only after Miyu was already gone. His eyes grew wide, having not seen that coming.

In her wake was a bright light and Kiba, Shikamaru, and Hinata knew what it was. Hinata whispered to the Kazekage that it was not harmful, having seen him tense for attack. Gaara did not relax.

In place of Miyu appeared the large and regal horse from before. On top of his shoulders appeared Hitoshi-kun, the oversized bluebird.

"Folluh me!" Hitoshi cried, wasting no time with pleasantries. He and the horse knew that Miyu-hime was in danger of herself; they could feel it in their hearts when her chakra called out to them against Miyu-hime's will.

Long ago, both had received terrible injuries through no fault of their own. Hawks had attacked Hitoshi, looking to take him down for a meal. Angry villagers had pushed the horse over a cliff after he had pillaged their food, not wanting to waste his energy to find his own. When Miyu cured them – no, brought them back to life through her special powers, they had been bonded to her in a way they could not explain.

The ninja followed the quick animals, Akamaru taking up a stride directly behind them.

Miyu reached the village walls in no time and was soon running like a madwoman over the sand, the shifty dirt not even registering her weight into footprints. His chakra signature seemed to be getting farther and farther away. A strangled roar tore from her throat and pierced her ears. He was playing games with her! He'd probably set up a decoy to lure her out.

Lava flowed through her veins as she seemed to pick up even more speed. She was unraveling quickly. She felt out of breath, her bones screamed in pain from overexertion, her hidden eye was burning alive, yet she couldn't remember a time when she felt so alive. Every nerve in her body was tingling and her heart was beating so fast it was a wonder it didn't skip out of her chest.

The ninja were fast, but they were not breaking the speed of sound any time soon. Akamaru kept them locked on the trail that Miyu-san's summons had left, but it astonished them all that such animals were capable of that much speed.

The ninja faltered a bit when they heard a terrifying roar. Quickly filing that in the back of their minds to be alert for a dangerous creature, they pursued again.

When they were finally able to catch up to the animals, the sight that greeted them was not one they expected to find.

The large horse was sitting on top of Miyu-san while Hitoshi held down one of her hands. She struggled against them – even managing to almost break free – but they seemed determined in holding her down.

Kiba, once he inhaled her chakra that seemed to be spilling out of her pores like black ink, had to move away with Akamaru, their sensitive noses unable to withstand the strong stench. His head swam as the smell of her black chakra poisoned his mind. Shikamaru, sensing his teammate in danger, grabbed onto his shoulders to keep him steady. Akamaru tore his eyes away from Miyu and rubbed his nose against Kiba's leg. He wanted to whine from how much venomous intent she was exuding, but he put himself in front of his master, just in case things got dicey.

Gaara had finally figured out why he felt so strange when she brushed up against him. He was reacting to her demon chakra, his body having remembered Shukaku. What his body wanted with her chakra was a mystery, but he kept a distance from the sinister pool around her after seeing the effect it seemed to be having on the Inuzuka.

Hinata – who had activated the Byakugan before – was now overwhelmed with how much chakra Miyu-san was releasing like heat into the air. The more effort she exerted, the more chakra she released. Hinata wondered with disbelief, _How much more chakra can you produce Miyu-san!_

Everything seemed to happen so fast that the shinobi weren't sure that they were really witnessing the unfolding events. Soon they all began to feel a sense of helplessness. Just what could they do for her if they couldn't get near her? Gaara could feel a headache coming on and he tried to spread his senses to figure out why she had taken this path out of the village. It could be that she knew she was about to go beserk, but it seemed to him that they'd been following a clear cut path, like she was moving towards something.

"Hyuga," he commanded. When he looked over at her she seemed to be drinking in the sight with her eyes, absorbing every minute detail. "Hyuga," he called again more sharply.

She whipped her head towards him.

Gaara had to repress the insane, alien feeling at looking at those hauntingly white mirrors. "Look out in the desert for a chakra signature."

Hinata nodded, glad to have an excuse to get away from the shocking scene.

The regal horse spread his pure white wings, kicking up a small dust storm, and wrapped them around Miyu. Hinata watched as a bright light obscured her vision for one second, before she saw Miyu lying motionless underneath the large horse and Hitoshi-kun.

The chakra was no longer active, and was restrained back into her stomach – the center of her chakra pool. However, the desert would not forget that it was Miyu's chakra that caused a large black stain on the shifty sand.

Kamlyn, the regal horse, stood up with weary legs. He was a heavy creature, but Miyu could survive if twelve tons of brick fell on her from a thousand feet high. He collapsed on the side, his mind forcing the menacing creature that had captured Miyu into a small cage. It wasn't his anger, and it wasn't his rage, but it threatened to overtake him too. Thankful he was to his age, far more than Miyu's, which attributed him with patience unparalleled. It was only because of that trait that he was able to keep Miyu sane and not go insane himself.

He knew he couldn't hold it for long though, there would come a day – soon – where he would fail at absorbing her monster.

Hitoshi had helped in absorbing some of her wrath too. When Miyu brought them back to life, she gave them part of her soul. Through her they were all connected. It was through that bond that the summons figured out that they could absorb Miyu's monster in order to keep her sane for a while longer. They were happy to do it – grateful, even, that they were able to help their master in such an intimate way.

Right now, though, both were just happy that they had gotten there in time.

"Ya kay Miyu-hime?" Hitoshi asked, not breathless like his comrades.

He might have been old but he was still able to finish a hundred meters in 5.3 seconds. Plus, it was better that Kamlyn, that damn prissy horse, was larger and therefore able to absorb more of Miyu's chakra than he was. He looked over at Kamlyn, wanting to ask him if he was okay, but a long-standing rivalry between the two gave him the knowledge that the prideful horse would think that he was belittling him with such a question. So he said no word to him, just cast him a worried glance that moved back to Miyu when Kamlyn returned it.

Miyu did not move from her place on the ground. She felt strange. Normally she would be exhausted from the monster sucking up all her energy. But because she did not have to forcibly stuff him down she felt empty. That rage had filled her up to the brim and then some! Her body shook and trembled as if she had just caught frostbite from the loss of emotions.

She nodded to Hitoshi's question, feeling a little better when he visibly sighed in relief.

When she opened her mouth to say something, nothing came out. She tried again with the same results. That roar that ripped through her throat a few minutes ago had done just that – rip her throat. She'd heal from it quickly, but the chakra that she had unknowingly expelled with her roar had cut a few sensitive places so the healing would take longer than expected.

Her face flamed red, embarrassed at how quickly her emotions had subdued her. She focused on feeling his chakra again, but it was gone. Dejected, she sighed and rolled facing upwards towards the sky. Why couldn't she just die like normal people?

Why didn't she just kill herself? She really should. She knew that. She's a danger. To everyone. No one is safe. But no. They need her to. What if she took a knife and carved out. Where her heart. Supposedly. Was. Or maybe she'd use scissors. Snip. Snip. Right to the median antebrachial on her forearm. Or her external jugular. Maybe the internal one. Or the inferior vena cava on the right side. Of her spine? That would end it. Hot blood would spill. Drip. Drip. Squelch. No. They need her to capture. Those bastards. She'd kill them or die trying. Yeah. That was good. She'd do that.

When she sky became blurry under her tearful gaze, she opened her mouth in a silent scream, bringing her fists up to pound against her head. The shinobi, not daring to get near her just yet, cringed as if they could hear all her pain and sorrow in the silent air.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I've been studying like crazy for my AP tests and after I finish all the exams I promise there will be updates on this story and my other ones. Bear with me please!**

**I've just had a hard couple of weeks and this month is not shaping up to be like I pictured (then again I've never pictured myself getting surgery before either so...whatever). **

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	16. Back Home

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

**Back Home**

Miyu quickly explained her actions on her blank notepad to the shinobi – seeing as how none of them understood sign language (the most they knew were the signals they used when speech would be catastrophic to their mission). It was hard trying to explain the turmoil she'd felt at seeing the body of her deceased little brother – especially when it was a stupid genjutsu. Nevertheless, she did the best she could at reminding the shinobi that they needed to catch Daiki – all of them – and fast.

Kamlyn was no longer with them; Miyu had sent him back to recover. Hitoshi, however, refused to leave.

He'd made a promise to Kamlyn and damned he was going to be if that horse found out he'd broken their agreement. They promised t'look aft'r each other, 'specially Miyu-hime. Thus the reason he had yet to get off her shoulders.

Miyu, face still blushing red, waited quietly for her reprimand. So she was not prepared when Hinata took her hand. Miyu noticed that even someone as dainty as Hinata had calluses, showing that she worked hard at her job. Though Hinata was trembling like an aftershock, Miyu could tell that she held a hidden courage in her heart. Miyu earned a new respect for the painfully shy kunoichi.

"It–it'll be o–okay Miyu-san. I think I–I–I understand how y–you felt and w–why you acted that way," Hinata said softly, her cheeks pink from speaking so directly to someone she regarded as higher than herself.

Miyu wondered how Hinata could be so nice when it had been Miyu who sent her teammates to the hospital. Kiba and Akamaru had been delirious after smelling so much of her potent chakra (it was usually very tame when she was not angered, but when she was infuriated her chakra took on poisonous properties to protect her from anyone who wished to do her harm). They had been taken to the hospital and desensitized. However, Hinata should not have felt anything for her but contempt – hell! Miyu felt contempt for herself!

What Miyu didn't know was that Hinata was thinking back to her cousin. Neji had been filled with so much rage against the Main family that when he got the chance to get even, he literally got even. He was prepared to kill his cousin because of his rage. Though Hinata had never felt such a blind rage before, she had known it and experienced it. Daiki had toyed with the scarlet haired girls' emotions and there was only so much that one person – whether you harbored demon chakras or not – could take.

Miyu did not smile – she couldn't feel her lips much less her body – so she settled for briefly squeezing her small hand back in appreciation. Hinata smiled softly and Miyu envied her.

How easily she could die. All someone had to do. Was squeeze. Squeeze her heart. Maybe. If one were being creative, they could draw. And quarter her. Stretching her ligaments out across countries. Even quickly twisting her neck was acceptable. Just one little _pop_ and she'd be – Miyu frowned. She knew that all her life she'd been on the path to insanity but at that moment she felt like she was right at its doorstep, raising her hand to knock.

She nodded at Hinata, who wondered at her change in mood, and let go of her hand. Miyu was afraid that she might do something she would regret later on.

"Miyu-san," Gaara said in his regular tone, "maybe you should rest."

Everyone understood his underlying tone. He didn't want her in the room while they discussed her. Miyu nodded but before she left, she wrote down: _I am leaving a scroll for Tenten. Tell her that it will be her transportation. She must also know that she should not refuse their help. Tell her to bow before hoisting herself up on them. Also, on her way can she pick up Aburame Shino, Hatake Kakashi, and Haruno Sakura? They will be very important assets in a counterattack. _

Miyu held out her hand and a golden scroll with white feathers adorning its surface elegantly, whimsically, appeared. She put it on the metal table of the interrogation room and was escorted out of the room by two Black Ops members. Gaara had given them specific instructions to put her in jail – containment would be the politically savvy way to say it but everyone knew what it meant – not because she had done anything wrong (the damage to the building could easily be fixed), but in order to better save her from herself. The bird was allowed to stay with her, unchained.

Kankuro and Tenten who had been in the interrogation room before the happenings, stood still as they waited for the door to close behind Miyu. Tenten could feel sympathy for the small woman. It was distasteful what the enemy had carried out, but since when were your mortal enemies known for producing unicorns and glitter?

When the door closed, Tenten cleared her throat.

"Kazekage-sama, I know that you're probably putting up with a lot but we found something on the weapon – it's a bo-shuriken by the way – that requires me to take a leave from this village."

"Turns out," Kankuro reported as well, "that there was a symbol on the side of the weapon – a symbol that belongs to a main family in the Land of Water. Don't worry, the weapon was ancient, therefore we don't have to worry about them invading us now and stuff. But Tenten remembers seeing a similar symbol on the side of the weapons when she battled with the enemies."

"You have recovered your memories." Gaara stated.

"Hai." They'd never been taken away from her, just hidden.

When she'd been just about to follow Kankuro out the door to alert Gaara about their findings, Tenten had spaced out. All her memories randomly came flowing back to her. She wanted to ask Miyu if there was a time limit on suppressing memories or if Tenten had done something herself, but it was not an appropriate question to ask at the moment. And anyways, she didn't really care. The memory of the pain she'd felt sort of wiped out all coherent thought. It was almost as if she had felt the pain of someone else, but it had been her own.

Tenten continued delving out the plan that she and Kankuro had come up with, putting those memories aside. "Now about my leave. I cannot get into great detail about the reason, but I have valuable books back in Konoha that spell out how to defeat these weapons."

Shikamaru frowned. "What do you mean by that? A weapon is a weapon, nothing more."

Tenten looked shocked and then her brow furrowed in indignation. It was only after he said it that he realized he was talking to a weapons specialist. And not just any weapons specialist. Konoha's weapon specialist who was known for being rather indignant about weapons and slightly violent in general.

"Anything can be used as a weapon if you hold it right," she reprimanded him, grabbing onto her water canteen a little too tightly. "But what makes these special is that if I can remember how to defeat them, they can't harm me – or anyone – like they did before." Her face paled when thought back to her fight with Jun. "If you allow me to go back then we can eliminate their weapons as a threat, making them one less thing we have to worry about."

"And this technique works on all their weapons?"

Though Tenten still thought that the Kazekage had no inflection in his tone – whether he was being casual or not – she couldn't help but think that he was being sarcastic with her. The surprise caused her to pause a few more seconds than she normally would have.

"The main family in the Land of Water does not sell items separately. Never have. They bundle together weapons and since I saw the symbol on both the katana and bo-shuriken, well that's why I want to eliminate them as a threat."

Gaara took a moment of silence. "I have no objections," he said resolutely. It'd be good if they could eliminate weapons as a threat – thus eliminating Jun, the weapons user, as a threat. However, he hoped he wasn't taking a gamble. There was no proof besides the two weapons that all of them had come from the Land of Water. There'd been no other weapons at the scene of the first battle that had belonged to a foreign adversary to support it either. But if there was a chance to eliminate the threat…it was a risk he was willing to take in order to protect his citizens.

Everyone looked at Shikamaru who had been rubbing his head in contemplation. Actually what they didn't know was that he was getting a headache as an aftereffect of Miyu's noxious chakra.

"I'm good with eliminating at least one of the men as a threat, but the trip'll take you a while. Can we afford that time?"

Tenten frowned. In her excitement, and shock, at finding her family's symbol on one of the enemy's weapons, she had forgotten that the trip from Suna to Konoha and back would take her days, even if she was booking it.

"Why don't we check out Miyu's scrolls then? She said that they're supposed to save me some time," she said, picking up the feathered scroll.

Opening it up, she found two strange symbols printed next to each other with only slight differences. On the bottom right hand corner were the words, _summonings_.

Laying it on the ground a few feet away from the group, she cut her thumb and wiped blood across the symbols. Instead of a glow that seemed to mark Miyu's summonings, there was a poof of smoke. Remembering Miyu's instructions about bowing, she bowed low.

When she smoke cleared she heard a snort above her.

"You are the one Miyu-hime wishes we assist?" asked a deep, booming voice coming from a black horse with white gracefully interwoven in its coloring.

Tenten straightened up to look at the two horses that bared much resemblance to Kamlyn. "I guess so."

"How lucky," a glistening auburn colored said in a bored tone.

"Do not be so callus Chafu," berated the black and white one.

"Then stop being so lilly-livered Goru," retorted Chafu.

Tenten got the sense that they were brothers.

"Well, when will we set off my lady?" Goru questioned with his deep voice.

Tenten shrugged calmly, and then berated herself silently. These summonings, she couldn't help but feel, deserved a little more than a shrug from her, so she said, "That has yet to be decided."

She looked at Gaara, though not into his sea foam, green eyes. They held too little emotion and reminded her of when he'd been ferociously vindictive during the Chunin exams. Now that she thought of it, it was kind of funny just how much they've all changed since then. Especially her team. She sniffed lightly and heightened her eyes to the Kazekages'. Yes, they had all changed.

Gaara regarded the kunoichi who had her eyes cast away from his own though it was obvious she wanted his conclusion. It ruffled him that she wouldn't dare look at him. Had it been the Hyuga it would be easier to accept seeing as how she had the spine of a jellyfish and the personality of a mouse. Kami and that stupid stutter! But Tenten was not Hinata. Tenten exuded confidence with her every step and had a good head on her shoulders. The way she wouldn't look at him though irked Gaara more than usual. Fire rumbled in his belly, slowly making its way to his throat to coat his words with venom.

He'd received the same perceived ignorance when he'd returned by the elders and the grownups in Suna. Oh how he loathed those non-looks. They made him feel…they made him want to…they made him speechless with unbridled anger.

Then the kunoichi sniffed and looked at him directly in the eyes, fear a foreign concept for her eyes. The look startled him and the fire seemed to be extinguished way too fast, leaving him breathless.

"How fast are you able to travel?" Gaara asked the horses.

They visibly bristled from his lack of a bow and decided to address the small girl with the buns in her hair, pointedly ignoring the leader.

"Faster than if you grew wings," Chafu, the one with a personality disorder, answered.

"It is usually a three-day trip if one is walking," Shikamaru managed to input. His mind was pounding but he sucked up the pain, feeling that he had to be present during the discussions.

"We will get there in less than three hours my lady," Goru, the nice one, answered Tenten, nuzzling his black and white nose into her cheek.

Kankuro whistled, impressed at their speed.

Tenten giggled though she felt that this horse was getting too handsy with her. Nevertheless she petted the fur on his nose, awing at the feeling of silk under her callused hands.

Chafu snorted in contempt for his big brother. He was such a flirt even when there was important business to take care of. Why Lady Miyu had chosen him to accompany meager humans was beyond his comprehension. But if Lady Miyu wished it he would obey.

Satisfied with the answer he received from the horses, Gaara assented. "You may leave when you have prepared your belongings."

"Hai Kazekage-sama."

Tenten smiled, glad to have a chance at getting Jun, that small man, back for what he did to her. The horses began walking towards the exit so Tenten followed. However she stopped cold in her tracks when it appeared that the Kazekage was not yet finished with his orders.

"You seem to be forgetting something Tenten-san," Gaara said in his monotone voice.

Kankuro had to stifle a laugh. Just what did his little brother have up his sleeve? Gaara wasn't overtly hilarious, he just had a different sense of humor than most…everyone.

"You will not be going back alone. Seeing as how you will be retrieving valuable information that would aid Suna in its endeavors, I must send you with an escort."

Okay, Tenten thought. She hoped it was that doctor; he was not only cute but a pretty nice man.

"Kankuro, get your provisions together and accompany Tenten-san. I will send a note to the Hokage that will tell her that you are on the way."

Tenten was just barely able to stop herself from face palming in front of the Kazekage. She nodded dutifully and turned to walk away. But before she made it to the door she stopped by Shikamaru and whispered into his ear, "Seriously, you're not hiding anything Mr. Ninja. Go to the doctor."

She walked out the doors, feeling ominously a pair of feet strolling behind her with unusual casualness.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Wow it's been too long since I've revisited my stories and I promise you guys who are hopefully not as disenchanted as I percieve you are with me. **

**Well I hope you guys enjoyed it and I'll be sure to revisit this site soon. **

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


	17. Surprise Visit

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this story.**

**Surprise Visit**

Shikamaru was bone tired. He'd been up far too long dealing with stuff that was way beyond the maturity level of a normal teenager. That was the price of being a ninja - he knew and accepted the fact - but that didn't mean he couldn't complain internally. The only consoling thought of the late evening, or early morning, was that he wasn't the only one suffering. Walking along the streets were Shikamaru and that docter that treated Tenten. Rikujo Takeshi if he wasn't mistaken – he rarely was.

Shikamaru walked with him part of the way until Rikujo-san got to where he needed. They'd made small talk, but politeness had never been Shikamaru's strong suit.

"Would it be plausible that they might have a hideout in the desert?" Rikujo hypothesized after a lengthy silence in the cold night.

All the streets were deserted since no one was safe at night on the streets. Ironically, no one was safe in their homes either, but to not cause widespread panic that fact they kept hidden from the public – not that it would do them any good to know anyways. Some preventive measures to help were extra trigger slips on doors that would alert one of the ninja on the duty of the location and number of alien intruders. Unfortunately, the slips were sensitive so how effective they would actually be was sort of on trial right now.

Shikamaru looked up at the sky, amazed that the sky in the desert could be so peaceful despite the hysteria slowly creeping into every corner of the city the longer these criminals remained at large.

"With all the sandstorms you guys have and limited water supply it would be hard to maintain a headquarters all the way in the desert and then come all the way to the village to kidnap people," he hypothesized.

The doctor nodded, knowing how his theory sounded.

"So why would he lead Miyu-san into the desert then?" he pointed out. "See, they are arrogant, egotistical and seemingly self-centered. Wouldn't it make sense for them to give Miyu a hint as to where they were but then cut it off just as she got closer?"

They did seem to be particularly malicious towards Miyu-san. And there had to be a reason that they couldn't kidnap her as easily as they could the rest of the villagers. Well, if she was what they really wanted in the first place. From what little contact his team had come with the criminals before, they did seem very self-centered down to their tone of voice. It would seem that Rikujo's theory would be quite probable, if not for the quick way they got in and out of houses. The desert didn't seem to be the best place to keep hostages…unless they weren't keeping hostages. Shikamaru refused to entertain that thought.

But they had to be holding them somewhere. If they wanted Hinata's eyes to experiment with, like Miyu-san said, they would need a facility for that. A facility easily concealable with enough space to hold as many captives as they wanted and it would be equipped with food and water. However nothing besides the victims themselves were taken from their homes.

"What you're saying makes sense but–"

"Yeah, I know. Too many holes," he finished for Shikamaru with no sense of self depreciation, just very matter-of-factly. "I'll work on it, but we need more than Miyu-san's word to go on. We need more evidence."

Shikamaru nodded, slowing down a bit.

"Well, this is my stop. I'll see you later," he said politely to the doctor as he stood uneasily on the foot of the hospital steps. He hated hospitals if only for the fact that the bright lights would do nothing for his raging headache.

The doctor waved, wished him a speedy recovery, and went on his way.

* * *

"Give me a moment," Takeshi all but commanded smoothly to the two guards in front of Miyu's cell. They were old colleagues of his, both still in ANBU. On many occasions he'd saved their lives after almost fatal injuries. They owed him one and they knew it.

The two guards looked at each other, unsure. "Umm, are we allowed to do that?"

Takeshi grinned. "You remember what happened five summers ago?"

Immediately they understood. "Yeah, we're allowed."

"Thirty minutes is about all we can spare," one told him. Takeshi grimaced.

"I'll be in there with her," he assured them. "I just have to ask her some questions."

They laughed. "Good luck with that. She's been kind of –" they wound their pointer fingers around their heads in the universal sign for "crazy".

Takeshi expected it so he didn't get mad or ruffled. At least, not in a way they could tell.

"One hour," he bargained.

"Thirty-five minutes," they said in finality. It'd probably unnerve them if they let their "guest" alone for any extended period of time despite the company she'd be entertaining. But Takeshi nodded, knowing it'd probably be best not to push them and draw unseemly attention as to why he needed her alone.

"See you then." They walked away after giving him the key, looking glad to be on a break but tense at the same time.

Before he walked in he straightened his blond head despite knowing he was stupid for doing so. Miyu didn't care what he looked like…but he couldn't help it. He wanted to look his best.

He looked into the cell and saw Miyu on the standard cot but the mattress that came with it seemed to have been thrown on the ground. She was sitting with one knee high to her chest while the other leg sprawled on the metal in an awkward position. Her hands entwined in her gorgeous red hair that spilled gracefully over her face. Her small body rocked back and forth with murmurings shaking loose of her concealed mouth.

"Miyu?" he asked softly, prepared to try anything to snap her out of her funk.

She didn't seem to hear him; just kept rocking back and forth. He listened closely to what she could possibly be murmuring.

"…zero, seven, six, spit on-, zero, seven, six…apricots squished, juices flowing down, boiling in her veins, zero, seven, six…"

He gently pushed the tips of his fingers into her shoulders. Her head sprang up, though her hair still concealed her from view.

"Take-chan?" she whispered as one would an infamous stranger.

Takeshi smiled at the way his name sounded coming out of her mouth. It gave him a thrill he'd never experienced with any other woman. He knelt down in front of her and pushed her hair out of her face. It amazed him that she could be so small at times and have such a huge presence other times.

She gasped. "Why. Are you. Here? I am not able. To – so much. Rage." She sucked in a breath. "So much. Lava," she complained, scratching at her already worn palm.

He reached out to stop her frenzied motion. Her head snapped to look at him with narrowed eyes. For a brief moment her penetrating gaze shot him with a chill. But he kept her small hand enveloped in his larger one. Takeshi noted she had scratched the skin raw. The blood oozed out slowly, trailing down her palm to her wrist before Takeshi stopped it. He began healing it, soothing it, in the hopes that this meaningless task would help her.

She pulled away from him with surprising speed before the skin could come together.

"What is it that you think you are doing?" she asked, no longer under a cloud of…well, he didn't know what to call it. Delusion? Insanity? Demonic dementia?

Takeshi pulled back a bit to look at her. "Healing you, or at the very least, trying. Are you okay?"

She gave a rueful smile. "Why do you care?" While he was distracted with the question she took the opportunity to take her burning hand from his cold one. She couldn't stand the heat of his hand in hers; him using his own energy to heal her. It was too intimate. Too personal. Something she no longer deserved.

He reached out to stroke her cheek with his callused thumb. "Why shouldn't I?" Purely physical touch she could handle.

Her lips pulled into a small grimace. The cell was a little cold, for which Miyu gratefully smiled. The cold could seep into her skin to calm down the raging lava in her veins. Lava. She needed something more than just the cold of the room to keep the lava at bay. It was starting to grow from her stomach, out to her fingertips.

She looked at Takeshi, longing for the purity he exuded. Oh, he had killed people. It came with the territory as a ninja. But he'd never needlessly, obtusely wiped out…she shook her head violently, not wanting the images of _that_ moonless night to torment her again. She'd spend too much energy and time to keep the memory down. Then the monster came and brought it back up. But she was stronger than the monster.

Suddenly she laughed. Who was she kidding? She was a monster.

She stopped laughing and tenderly touched his soft face. Her fingers brushed his hair away. Softly she led him to the mattress where he'd probably be more comfortable. Miyu allowed him to arrange them however he wanted. After all, he'd come to see her despite what she'd done in the interrogation room and the desert and despite knowing exactly what she was. This meeting was going to whichever way he wanted; she owed him at least that.

Her long forgotten heart warmed a bit when he'd placed her in between his legs, her back against a solid but soft chest. He put his legs around hers, forcing hers to tuck closer into her chest and put his arms around her in a hug. She tried her hardest not to feel his warmth. The cold was what she wanted. Cold to seep into her mind and calm down the lava in her veins.

He laid his forehead against the back of her head, inhaling her scent.

"What happened-"

"I speak not of today's events."

Takeshi forced himself not to push it.

"What were you saying earl-"

She stopped him again. "I do not understand it myself so cease," she spit out forcefully.

In solitary she'd tried to tap into the mind of the man she had the most connection with. The man she offered up part of her soul for when he'd made a fatal mistake of spilling two inky compounds onto his sandaled feet. Kai had commanded Norio to make a poison that wouldn't leave a trace in the body less than five minutes after injection, but to make it an instant killer. Something that heavy would take a while to get out of their system so Norio had his work cut out ahead for him. Miyu had found him dead on the floor about two hours later and brought him back with her powers.

But instead of tapping into Norio, she'd found herself in the mind of the man whose heart she wanted to rip out again, and again, and again. Daiki had been thinking about those numbers and apricots for reasons Miyu could assume, but reasons she didn't want to give to Takeshi. These were his people and if he knew exactly what Daiki had done to #076…he'd be too disturbed to think properly during this investigation.

She'd tried to find out more – a location for instance – but Daiki, for once in his too damned long life, was keeping that sealed underneath his excitement for all the people they'd taken – all the perfect little mice he could play with. She'd been trying to find a way out of the sickening feelings and "discoveries" he was making with his new mice when Takeshi had touched her, effectively pulling her out of his mind.

She wasn't upset with him, but she did hope to have some time to come up with a location or anything that would be useful to the Kazekage. After all, she must have disappointed him enough.

"One time I was outside playing with my brother who had just gotten into the academy," Takeshi said in a soft, nostalgic voice. Miyu listened to him, mesmerized by they way she could feel his voice rumble though his body into hers. It had really been too long since she had intimate contact with another human. They had often kept away from her in the past.

"He was teaching me to throw kunai before, between, and after our medical lessons. Though I was like, two years younger than he was I was catching up to him. Med school stuff just came to me easily. Well, the ninja stuff sort of lagged so he was helping me out before I was old enough to get into the academy. He left our training area, which back then was the garden of cacti, and I started practicing on a wooden stump. For hours I tossed the kunai, even after my blisters oozed. After all, I could just heal them.

"Suddenly the sky darkened. It was only three in the afternoon with the harsh sun beating down unbearably just moments before. I ran past the wooden pole and hoisted myself up onto the stone wall that enclosed the garden. Dark sand blew chunks every direction until I didn't know which way was down or left or right. Being a child who immersed themselves for the better part of my childhood in medical texts, I had a hard time feeling the same things as everyone else.

"Instead of fear, I was curious as to what that shape was in the middle of the storm. I carried goggles back then because they had this really cool magnifying attachment – I still have them – so when I put them on I was immediately shocked by what I saw. I didn't know it then, but it was Gaara-san. I still don't know what really happened but I remember seeing his bloodthirsty eyes. I admit, at that moment just a touch of fear entered my mind, but I was overly curious too. How could he command such fine grains of sand? It astonished me.

"Just then a particularly nasty blast sent me reeling back into the cactus garden. I couldn't walk properly for a while," the little huff of laughter he let out tickled her neck.

Cold, she reminded herself. Cold. She stirred the wind around her – only enough for her to feel – and settled back against Takeshi's chest.

"Know why I told you that story?" he asked playfully.

She smiled sadly. His tone reminded her of so long ago…

"I am fairly certain I have a conjecture."

He laid his head on her shoulders. When she shrugged him off quickly, he returned back to resting his head on top of hers. He'd forgotten she didn't really like to be touched. Contrary to what he used to think, two people didn't have to touch in order to kiss.

"Don't shy away from me," he implored softly with barely restrained feelings. If Miyu knew exactly what she was doing to him, he might scare her off. "I'm not afraid of you. Not anymore than I'm afraid of any other person."

Miyu clenched her jaw. She had known stringing Takeshi along might have ended up with only one heartbreak – his. She honestly could not love anymore. Takeshi made her feel more human. Simple as that. She enjoyed his care-free nature and the juxtaposition he offered when he grew completely absorbed by his work. She enjoyed kissing him because that always released the chemical hidden in her brain that soothed her sanity. Takeshi was but an instrument to aid her in this short life she planned to live.

Though she knew all of that…she didn't push him away. Selfishly, she craved more humanizing, more sanity, more of everything she would never truly be. The longer she kept this up with him the harder it would be to push him away – that is, if she could feel more than the trickle of empathy that flared on occasions.

She felt the guards coming back she shoved away from him, silently silencing her body's loss of warmth, and resumed her position on the metal cot.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Well…it's been a while? Ha, again I've been busy with school and so many after school activities it's literally swamping me. It's been hard digging my way through the mess but I finally surfaced! **

**Hope you enjoyed and are looking forward to the next chapter. **

**Love: Lola of the Peaches**

**=]**


End file.
